Lost and Found
by shootingstartsxox
Summary: When Kurt ran away when they were all freshman, he turned everyone's life upside down. But what happens when someone see's him, in the place they least expect to? FUTURE FIC. Chararcters include Kurt, Blaine, Santana, Britney, Mercdess, Finn, Rachel
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone! So this is a new idea I just came up with, I'm currently writing two stories at the moment, so it won't be updated everyday, but hopefully a couple times a week. Hope everyone enjoys!

…...

Santana stepped through her apartment trying to balance three grocery bags in her hands Britney looked up from her spot on the couch and smiled.

"Hey Santana" she said cheerfully before going back to whatever random activity she was currently doing.

"Hey Brit how was daycare today"? Santana asked placing her bags on the counter.

"Fine, Jenny and me were trapped in our princess tower and Philip had to face a dragon to rescue us" Britney said nonchalantly. Santana giggled at her silly best friend, who didn't understand that going and playing with children everyday was actually her job.

"Sounds like an eventful day" Santana said, taking boxes out of the bags.

"Oh yeah, especially when I ran into Kurt" Santana dropped the box of noodles she had in her hand to the floor.

"You what"?

"I saw Kurt today" Britney said nonchalantly, getting up to grab a glass of water. Santana watched Britney very carefully.

"Britney there are a lot of men that look like Kurt in this damn city, you just must have been confused" Santana said, still unable to move, watching Britney's face.

"It was Kurt I know it was" Britney said.

"Britney, remember he ran away years ago no one's seen him since" Santana reminded her.

"Well we didn't look hard enough, cuz he's here, I spoke to him".

"You-You spoke to him"? Santana had to lean against the counter for support. Britney looked confused at Santana reaction.

"Yeah I sat with him for a bit. I told him we all missed him, and that a lot of people lived here now, which must have scared him cuz he ran away" Britney shrugged.

Santana was clutching the counter for dear life. Kurt Hummel was in New York City. When Kurt ran away five years ago, he turned everyone's life upside down. Even people who didn't live in the city where effected by Kurt's mysterious departure. Burt tried everything to find his son, even hired a private investigator when the police were no help. Two years ago, they stopped the search, drawing the conclusion that if Kurt wasn't dead, he had fled the country. Santana sighed, she'd have to call Rachel, who could rely the message to Finn. She didn't want to open this can of worms again, everyone was finally able to move on with their lives, and she knew this one phone call was going to send everyone back. She clutched her phone in her hand before taking a deep breath and dialing a number.

…

Rachel was reading through a script she already had memorized to pass the time before Finn came home with take-out from their favorite Vegan place when her phone rang. She frowned when she saw Santana's name on the caller ID, she never called Rachel unless she needed something, she debated hitting ignore, but Rachel always had a sweet spot for her New Direction's teammates, they would always have a tie to each other.

"What do you need this time Santana?" Rachel said bitterly.

"Nothing, Rachel I need to talk to you".

"What is it this time? Concert tickets, seats at a fancy restaurant, money?" Rachel asked.

"Rachel, seriously, Britney ran into someone today".

"Who Santa Clause, as much as I love Britney's strange stories now's not the time I have lines to remember" Rachel said rolling her eyes.

"Rachel, Britney saw Kurt today". Rachel froze for a minute her eyes widened.

"She probably saw a flamboyant guy and-"

"She said she talked to him. Britney is slow but we both know that she-"

"She wouldn't lie", Rachel finished Santana's sentence for her. She let out a shaky breath.

"I never thought we would find him right under our noses" Rachel said softly.

"At least we know he's not dead" Santana said trying to bring out the positive of the situation.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to tell Finn" Rachel said.

"I know that's why I called. But listen, Britney said she spooked him and he ran off, so the chances of him still being here are slim".

"Ok, thanks Santana".

"Yeah, look I'll text the rest of ND and tell them, we owe them an update".

"Of course, but Santana, can I call Mercedes and Blaine"?

"Yeah sure, let me know what happens".

"Of course, thanks Santana". Rachel let her phone fall out of her hands and onto the couch. She looked up at the bookshelf in the corner that mostly help old photos, and directed her attention to one displayed on the top, of her and Kurt from graduation, huge smiles on their faces. It's been five years since Kurt graced her life with his presence. She missed him everyday she sang up on that Broadway stage. Telling Finn this was going to bring Finn and his family back to their obsessive behavior in finding him, and she wasn't sure if they could handle the disappointment a second time around. And then there was Mercedes, who although played tough and optimistic during the whole thing, had been pretty destroyed when her best friend fled, especially since she was on the other side of the continent during the whole thing, she always prayed Kurt would end up on her doorstep, but he never did. And then there was Blaine, poor Blaine who was just starting to move on with his life. Blaine who had blamed himself for Kurt's disappearance to begin with, and was living with him at the time of his departure. Rachel didn't want to be the bearer of news that would rock the foundation of their worlds again. She picked her phone up from the couch, and decided to make the easier out of the two phone calls first.

"Rachel Berry, there better be a good reason you are interrupting my America's Next Top Model" Mercedes voice boomed through Rachel's phone, causing a slight grin on Rachel's face.

"Hey Mercedes, how are you"?

"I'd be better if I could watch my shows, everything ok"?

"Mercedes I have some news".

"Girl are you pregnant? Cuz Quinn is just going to think you are copying her again".

"No, Mercedes, Britney spoke to Kurt today", she heard Mercedes take a sharp inhale.

"He-He's in New York"?

"Apparently. I don't know how long or anything, I haven't even told Finn yet but Santana just called".

"Wow, well, Jesus. Well this is what we wanted right, all these years, a lead"?

"Yeah, it's just-"

"Bringing back the pain we were able to forget, yeah I get it" Mercedes said softly. Rachel heard Finn fumble with the key outside the door.

"Hey I have to go Finn's home. Santana's letting the rest of ND know, and I still have to call Blaine, but I'll let you know as I know something" she quickly hung up and threw her phone to the side.

"Hey babe I come bearing Vegan" Finn said walking through the door. She smiled at her handsome boyfriend. When Finn moved to New York shortly after Kurt's disappearance, they immediately got back together, since distance was the only thing keeping them apart to begin with. It didn't matter that Finn came to look for Kurt, and not for her, they were together now and that was all that mattered. They had been dating for five years almost, and most people expected them to be married by now. Rachel knew Finn was waiting, that he felt weird having a wedding without Kurt, and that didn't bother her, because she felt the same exact way.

"You look like you've just seen a ghost" he observes kissing her softly on the head.

"Finn can you sit down a second" she asks quietly. Finn raises his eyebrows but does what he's told.

"Santana called today" she said softly, Finn still looked confused.

"And-well-she-she-said that Britney saw and spoke to-to Kurt", she looks up and watches Finn's reaction. He knits his eyebrows together and bites his lips.

"Kurt? Here, he's here"? Finn was able to say.

"According to Britney, yeah".

"Well what are we waiting for we've got to go look for him" Finn said leaping up from the couch.

"Finn what's that going to do this city is huge, and Santana said Britney scared him and he ran off, so the chances that he is still here are slim", Finn frowns.

"I've got to call my mom and Burt" he says pulling his phone out of his jacket pocket" He rushed to the bedroom door and lets it slam behind him. Rachel sighs, and so it begins.

…..

Blaine was sitting reading a book when Oliver walked through their apartment door.

"Hey, I haven't seen you in what seems like days" Blaine says getting up from the couch to give his boyfriend a kiss.

"Yeah sorry between exams and residency I've been doing most of my sleeping at the hospital" Oliver says hanging up his jacket. Blaine wraps his arms around Oliver's waist and pulls him closer.

"We should go out tonight, or stay in" Blaine says suggestively kissing Oliver's neck. Oliver unattached himself from Blaine's grip to spin around to face Blaine, wrapping his arms around his neck.

"As much as I'd love that, I have the graveyard shift tonight. I really only have time for a quick dinner and a shower". Blaine pouts.

"I'll take what I can get, I'll even cook" Blaine said spinning around towards the kitchen. He opens the freezer and pulls out two microwavable meals, Oliver rolls his eyes.

"This was my mom's biggest fear when I told her I was gay, that no one would know how to cook".

"I resent that, I'm getting better, I don't burn these anymore" Blaine said with a smile. Just then his phone rings, and he quickly grabs it from the counter.

"It's Rachel" Blaine said amused, Oliver rolled his eyes again.

"Hello Broadway superstar Miss. Berry, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he says smiling, while opening up the boxes of his future dinner.

"Hi Blaine" she says. Her voice is soft, and not as energetic as usual. He knows something is wrong, He has been waiting for this day, the day someone would call him, to deliver bad news about a certain someone who he was still trying to forget.

"What's wrong?" he asks, dropping the box on the counter and heading towards the couch, sitting down. Oliver follows him, watching concerned.

"You know me to well, I have some news" she says, causing Blaine's stomach to drop.

"Yes"?

"Well, according to Santana, Britney saw Kurt today" she says slowly. Blaine scrunches his face up. Kurt couldn't be in New York; he ran away from New York, he would have no reason to come back.

"Are you-"?

"She spoke to him Blaine" she says, answering Blaine's question before he has a chance to ask it. "And we both know Britney is daft but she wouldn't-"

"Lie" Blaine says slowly. "Wow he's back"?

"Well, we don't really know that. Britney said she mentioned a lot of us were still here and he freaked out and ran, so he could be gone again for all we know, he obviously isn't back to see us. But Finn called Burt and he's already contacted the private investigator and is on the way here". Blaine sighs, poor Burt, he couldn't imagine how hard it must be for him to go through this all again.

"Thanks for letting me know" Blaine says softly.

"Yeah of course, I'll let you know if I hear anything, just don't go do something stupid" she says.

"I have no reason to" Blaine says before hanging up, laying his head against the back of the couch.

When Kurt left five years ago, he blamed himself 100%. They were freshman, they were living together and Kurt had been miserable. He was homesick, failing classes, and re- examining all of his choices. Blaine on the other hand been thriving, making friends, excelling in academics, and part of a million musical groups. He had been happy, and coming home to an upset and emotional Kurt everyday had been bringing him down. He had been planning on breaking up with Kurt, even checking if Kurt would be able to move in with Rachel before he did it. And Kurt wasn't dumb, he sensed it. The night before Blaine was planning on doing it, Kurt had came into their room and practically thrown himself on Blaine. It had surprised him, because since Kurt had become depressed he stopped any sexual advances, or any advances towards Blaine at all. Blaine still loved Kurt, so he allowed himself to make love to him one more time that night, as selfish as he felt doing it. Kurt was gone before Blaine was up, and when Blaine got back to the apartment, Kurt still wasn't back. He waited for hours and by ten o'clock he was calling Kurt, getting no answer. By 11 he was searching for Kurt at all his favorite places, and by twelve he called Finn. He returned to their apartment and did some snooping, noticing that one of Kurt's suitcase was gone, and that a select few of Kurt's outfits were missing, along with his skin care products. Blaine had then found Kurt's keys on the night stand, and that's when he realized Kurt wasn't coming back. But Kurt didn't just leave Blaine, he left everyone, making no contact to any of his friends or family. It had torn everyone up inside. Burt and Finn moved to New York, dealt with police officers for years and when they were no help he hired a private investigator, he had found no leads. Blaine stayed in the apartment for three years, praying that Kurt would one-day come back looking for him, but he never did. Blaine felt terrible, he stopped speaking to any of his friends except for the one's that still linked him to Kurt. He dropped music completely, it reminded him of Kurt too much, and switched his major to business, the most boring and least like Kurt major. When Burt gave up and went back to Ohio, Blaine realized maybe he should move on with his life too. He started out slow, first sending Burt all of Kurt's things, and then moving out of their apartment. Wes had came to visit about a year and half ago, and dragged Blaine to a gay bar, and that's where he met Oliver. Oliver was only there because his friends said he worked to hard and dragged him, so they felt like they had a lot in common. Blaine told Oliver all about Kurt, and he was able to help Blaine slowly get back to normal, well, to what he thought Blaine's normal was. And Blaine truly loved Oliver, there was always Kurt in the back of his mind, but Oliver was there in the flesh. They lived together now, mostly because it was hard for them to spend anytime together, since Oliver was a med student. Blaine didn't mind that Oliver was never around. He enjoyed it actually, and that's probably why they worked so well together.

"Blaine, everything ok"? Oliver walked closer to where Blaine was sitting on the couch.

"Oh yeah that was Rachel" Blaine says lifting his head back up and looking at Oliver.

"I gathered that, you don't look so good Blaine" Oliver said sitting down.

"Yeah, well, um. She said that my friend Britney spoke to Kurt today, you remember the blonde girl that kept calling me a dolphin"?

"The one that still believes in Santa Clause, yeah I remember. And when you say spoke to, you mean on the phone"?

"No, here, in person" Blaine says quietly.

"Oh. Well, that's great, you know for Kurt's family, they have some sort of a lead" Oliver says faking a smile.

"Yeah" Blaine says.

"Are you going to help them?" Oliver asks.

"Help them what"? Blaine looks confused.

"Look for Kurt".

"Why would I do that?" Blaine says. Oliver takes Blaine's hands in his.

"Because I know you still care about him, and you probably know him better then all of them combined. You might pick up on things they wouldn't" Blaine looks at Oliver.

"And you'd be ok, with me helping"?

"Of course, I mean you were going to break up with him anyway right, so it's not like you'd be together right now, I 'm not worried" Oliver said reassuringly. Blaine isn't convinced however, he knows Oliver, Oliver was a doctor in training, he took classes on how to stay cool calm and collected, and that was why they never ever fought.

"I guess I could at least call Brittney, see exactly what they spoke about" Blaine said. Oliver patted him on the knee.

"Good, and I'll go make us some salad" he got up from the couch and headed into the kitchen. Blaine didn't know if he wanted to do this, get involved again like he was before, he didn't know if he could handle this again emotionally. Especially after moving on, if you could even call it that. He toyed with his phone for a moment before finally dialing.

"Hello hobbit" a sultry voice that Blaine recognized to be Santana's came through.

"Hey Santana" Blaine said before checking to see if he dialed the right number, he had.

"I take it you heard the news" she said.

"Yeah, I was hoping to talk to Britney about it".

"She's giving Lord Tubbington the second a bath" she said hastily.

"Santana please, it's important" he begged.

"Look she just got off the phone with Burt, and he made her really upset, so I don't think it's a good idea" she said softly.

"I'm not calling to yell, I really just want to hear their exact conversation".

"Fine" Santana huffed, calling for Britney.

"Hello" a dreamy voice said.

"Hey Britney" Blaine said, and he couldn't help but smile, she would always be his favorite.

"Blaine Warbler" Britney cooed into the phone. "I saw your dolphin today" she says.

"He's not my- I know I heard, I was wondering if I could talk to you about it" Blaine said patiently.

"Sure, I already told Kurt's dad. But he got mad at me" she said sadly.

"He just really misses Kurt. So where exactly did you see him"?

"Oh, well I was walking to subway from work, and I was looking for fairies, when I recognized his butt" she says seriously.

"You, what?" Blaine asks flabbergasted.

"I recognized his butt, we both dated him Blaine he has a nice one. Especially in all those fancy clothes he wears" she says sincerely, making Blaine smile a little, he could definitely agree with her there.

"So I followed him, and he went into this coffee shop, it was cute it reminded me of-"

"The Lima Bean" Blaine says, realizing exactly where he was. Kurt used to go there when he was homesick, it was nowhere near their old apartment but Kurt stumbled upon in one day, and went there all the time. Blaine used to have and go and get him at night when Kurt would not want to leave.

"Yeah. So I watched him, he ordered a coffee and sat down at a table, and he looked lost, so I went and sat down next to him. He was shocked when I said his name, but he kinda smiled at me a little. I told him that everyone missed him, and that Quinn was having a baby, and that the Asian's already had one. I told him how a lot of us ended up in the city, and he got angry. I then told him that I was thinking about him this week and he ran, I think he was late. " Britney says.

"Why had you been thinking of him"? Blaine asks.

"Because of the white tents in the park, the one's with the yelling people taking pictures and celebrities, Kurt always wanted to end up there" she said, expecting Blaine to know this already.

"Fashion week" Blaine says, his eyes widened. It was fashion week in Bryant Park right now, he knew this because it took him twenty minutes longer to get to work.

"Thank you Britney you are a genius" he swiftly hung up the phone and dialed Finn, his mind swimming with thoughts.

"Blaine hey, now's not really a good time right now" Finn says.

"Finn wait. I just spoke to Britney, and listen, do you know what week it is"?

"Um no"?

"Of course not, it's fashion week. And I know it's a long shot but think about it, Britney said Kurt was still well-dressed which means he has to have a job to support his crazy clothes budget. And when Britney mentioned fashion week he ran, because maybe that's why he's here. Maybe he's a designer, or I don't know involved in it somehow, it was his dream, it's not so off base".

"Rachel has two passes, she was going to drag me".

"You should go" Blaine says seriously.

"Come with me" Finn urges, Blaine flinches.

"If he's there he isn't going to want to see me" Blaine reminds him.

"I can't do this without you" Finn says, and Blaine sighs.

"I can be there in thirty minutes" Blaine says softly.

"Thank you" Finn says before hanging up the phone. Blaine grabs his jacket and heads to the kitchen, watching his sexy boyfriend chop tomatoes. Oliver senses Blaine and looks up and smiles.

"Hey, get anything out of Britney"?

"Yeah actually, we think he may be here for fashion week, Finn wants me to check with him" Blaine says, he notices the look of disappointment in Oliver's face.

"Well you should, I have to go soon anyway. Let me know how it goes", Oliver says turning his attention back to the tomatoes. Blaine takes a deep breath before heading out the door, this was probably the worst idea he ever had.


	2. Chapter 2

Blaine waited outside the huge white tent set up, hands in his pockets, trying to not think about how cold he was at the moment. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw Finn's tall shadow make his way towards him.

"Hey man" Finn said when he saw Blaine. Blaine noticed how exhausted Finn looked, and he assumed he was probably as emotionally drained as he was.

"So Rachel yelled at me for pressuring you on coming, she wants me to make sure it was ok with your boyfriend" Finn says awkwardly.

"Oh yeah, he's fine with it" Blaine said. Finn pulls out two yellow lanyards with a white card attached to it.

"Awesome" he says handing one of the lanyards over to Blaine. They walk up the carpeted path towards the entrance.

"So how does this work, I know nothing about fashion" Finn says, causing Blaine to chuckle.

"I have no clue, I really haven't followed fashion since-" Blaine can't finish that statement, but Finn nods his head, knowing exactly what he meant.

"Guess we'll have to play it by ear" Finn shrugs. The boys flash their badge to security at the door and are ushered inside.

It's a lot emptier than they expected. The runway and hundreds of chairs stand untouched. However there is loud music, lights, and some people scattered around the room sipping champagne. A blonde girl dressed in all black wearing a walkie talkie approached them, a sly smile on her face, she couldn't take her eyes off of Blaine, which made Finn chuckle, because Kurt always hated when girls used to hit on Blaine.

"You boys looking for something?" she says with a smirk.

"Actually yeah, do you happen to know a Kurt?" Finn asks her.

"There are probably a lot of Kurt's here, but if he's anyone important he's probably back there" she points to a hallway where loud music is coming from.

"Thanks" Blaine says pushing past her trying to go to the back room.

"Not so fast" she says. "VIP only". She steps in front of Blaine and plays with the lanyard hanging around his neck. "Just because you have this fancy pass doesn't mean I can let you in" she smirks up at Blaine, her hand lingering on his chest.

"Listen, we're models, and this guy Kurt said if we could find him tonight he would give us a gig for tomorrow, so we really need to get back there", Blaine raises his eyebrows at her, and Finn coughs back a laugh.

"Models? Aren't you a little short?" she asks.

"Height's not a problem when you're as good as I am" Blaine says, and Finn literally has to bite his lip to not laugh, the girl smirks, and watches him for a minute.

"Fine, but if you're caught, I didn't help you" she says stepping aside and letting them through.

"Thank you" Blaine says before Finn and him make it through the hallway.

The back room is much more crowded the front. It smelt of alcohol and smoke, and Blaine was pretty sure he saw people in the corner doing lines of coke.

"I hope he's not here" Finn whispers, and Blaine understands completely, he doesn't want Kurt to be a part of this crowd either. They walk around the room slowly, examining every face. Blaine was about to tell Finn to give up when he saw him. He was sitting in the corner surrounded by people. A taller man with black styled hair had his arm around him. Despite the laughter coming from the group, Kurt had a scowl on his face, he looked like he didn't want to be there. He was skinnier, if that was even possible, his face much more defined, but he wore his hair the same way, and seemed to have the same sense of style. Blaine grabbed Finn's arm to stop him from moving and Finn followed Blaine's gaze and saw Kurt too.

"Wow, he looks, not happy" Finn says after a couple of seconds.

"Let's do this" Finn says stepping forward but Blaine stays behind.

"Maybe you should just go, he might get upset if he see's me" Blaine says, Finn looks worried.

"If you look like you need help I'll be right there" Blaine assures him.

"Alright, well here goes nothing" Finn says before making a bee-line to his brother. He steps up awkwardly behind the group, no one noticing his presence.

"Kurt" Finn calls out. Kurt looks up and makes eye contact with him, he scowls when he sees Finn. Finn steps forwards and bends over to give Kurt a huge hug that Kurt doesn't respond to. Everyone including the man with his arm around his brother are staring at Finn, and he realizes maybe wearing plaid and a puffy vest to a fashion show was a bad idea, but he hadn't been considering things like that at the time.

"Can I help you?" the dark haired man beside Kurt said in a British accent, and Finn winced, he always found accents intimidating.

"Uh yeah I'm Kurt's-"

"Old friend" Kurt finally says before getting up and pulling Finn away from the group.

"What are you doing here?" Kurt says in a harsh whisper, which confuses Finn even more.

"Britney said she saw you-"

"I figured a much. But what are you doing here? How did you know where to find me?"

"Oh, well that was all Blaine-"

"Blaine"? Kurt feels his heart drop a little.

"Yeah, Britney mentioned you freaked out when she mentioned fashion week, and Blaine put two and two together. More importantly, where the hell have you been"? Finn asks, starting to get angry.

"I can't tell you that" Kurt says.

"Why the hell not"? Finn asks, his voice getting louder.

"Because you'll know where to find me" Kurt says matter of factly.

"Know where to-Kurt do you have any idea what you have put all of through these past five years"?

"Is there a problem?" The dark haired man asked putting his arm protectively around Kurt's waist.

"Yeah, there is actually Kurt has a lot of explaining to do" Finn spits out, causing the dark haired man to raise his eyebrows.

"Really? And why is that? Who are you anyway"?

"I'm Finn, Kurt's step brother-"

"I didn't know you had a step brother" the man says to Kurt obviously amused.

"Didn't know you- What the hell man? Why are you doing this to us, to your father, do you understand-" just then Blaine came up and put his hand on Finn's shoulder.

"Calm down" Blaine says through his teeth. He looks up at Kurt, and for the first time they make eye contact. Kurt takes a step away from him, and Blaine isn't sure if it's out of anger or shock.

"Kurt, we thought you were dead. We all dropped our lives to try and find you. Mercedes stopped having a social life hoping you would show up at her dorm, Santana became nice, Me and your dad moved here in hopes of finding you, Blaine-".

Blaine shakes his head, he doesn't want Kurt to anything he went through.

"You're dad almost had a heart attack, he was hospitalized more than once over all of this". Finn looks at Kurt, and notices the sadness in his eyes.

"Is he ok"? Kurt asks quietly.

"No, well physically yeah, but he's so messed up, he misses you more then you will ever know".

"Why did you leave us?" Blaine whispers, and Kurt shakes his head.

"I don't know what's going on here, but Kurt seems upset, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave" the British man says.

"Who the hell are you"? Blaine asks, the man just smiles.

"Cole, Kurt's boyfriend, and boss" the man says smugly. Blaine felt heat boiling through his blood stream. He had no right to be jealous, considering he had a boyfriend as well, but the fact that Kurt was working for, and sleeping with this man disgusted him.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave" Cole says sternly.

"Kurt please, dad's on his way to the city, please talk to him" but Kurt just turns around and goes back to the couch. Finn storms out of the back room and Blaine shoots Cole one more nasty glare before joining him.

"What the hell happened to him"? Finn screams, pacing back in forth in the front party.

"He was depressed when he left, but I had hoped he at least found happiness, I don't understand what his problem is" Blaine says slowly. He notices his blonde friend watching them, and he motions her over.

"Did you get your gig?" she asks flirtatiously.

"Uh yeah, listen do you happen to know a Cole?" Blaine asks, Finn looking at him questioningly.

"Dark haired and British?" she asks, and Blaine nods his head.

"He's the designer from tonight's show. He's one of the youngest British designers to make it in Fashion Week, he's making his line international" she says and Blaine rolls his eyes, Cole would be successful.

"When you asked about a Kurt, did you mean his assistant?" she asks intrigued.

"Tall and light brown hair?" Finn asks, and she nods his head.

"Yeah, Kurt. He's Cole's assistant, but they are totally shaking up. He mostly follows Cole around like a lost puppy; he doesn't talk much, unless it involves something for his job." Blaine frowned, that didn't sound like his Kurt.

"Well thanks for your help" Blaine says before dragging Finn out of there.

"Something's up" Blaine decides and Finn nods his head in agreement.

"I'm just going to wait for my dad, he'll think of something" Finn says, Blaine can tell that confrontation took a lot out of Finn.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Let me know if you need anymore help" Blaine says quietly. Finn nods his head again.

"Thanks for everything Blaine" he says before heading off to the nearest subway stop. Blaine turns around and looks at the huge tent again, his stomach felt off about all of this, he should have just stayed home and not gotten involved, because now this was all he could think of.

….

Kurt opens his eyes and watches the light try to make it's way through the curtains, in the all white bedroom he was currently in. He sighed, turning around to see Cole still passed out, he had a hard night of partying. Kurt leaned over the bed and felt around till he found his boxers, quickly slipping them on and leaving the room before Cole woke up. He made his way through the large apartment he was unfamiliar with until he found the kitchen, and instantly went to fix himself a pot of coffee. He watched as the pot slowly dripped the liquid out.

He hated being back in New York, he hadn't wanted to come, he begged Cole to allow him to stay home. But this time Cole wouldn't budge.

"_It's fashion week, as my assistant you need to be there"_ Cole reminded him countless times. And the fact that Cole was planning on moving here, that made Kurt sick to his stomach.

Kurt had been drowning before he left here. He left his apartment every morning only to get chewed up, spit out and trampled by Prada shoes, everyday. No matter what he did, he never felt good enough. His teachers at FIT told him from the beginning he wouldn't make is as a designer, he was being told by theatre groups his voice was too high pitched for male roles, and he was told by classmates that he was to strange to be a part of their social group. Kurt would come home everyday miserable, to find Blaine happy. Blaine was making millions of friends, being told by teachers he had what it took to be a musician, and every music group and choir of NYU was begging him to join. Kurt didn't want to bring Blaine down, so he started to avoid him, spending more time with Rachel but she didn't make him feel any better.

Kurt had thought Rachel was depressed over leaving Finn behind, but she easily adapted at Julliard making friends, and starting plays.

"_The director told me he thinks I could be the lead by next semester. Can you imagine, being the lead as a Freshman?" _Rachel had told him one day. And that's when it got to point that Kurt couldn't stand to be around Rachel either. He moved on next to Santana.

Santana had moved to New York to pursue a career in modeling, but after being turned down twice she decided to move on and go to school. She enrolled at Hunter College, and started to delve into the other aspect of modeling, photography, and she loved it. She was partying, meeting girls, and having the time of her life, and that brought Kurt down to.

Kurt knew he was worrying Blaine, that Blaine felt like he had to walk around eggshells with him, and Kurt hated it. He didn't want to be a part of someone's life in such a negative way like he was in Blaine's. When Kurt received almost all failing midterm grades, he grew even more depressed. He knew Carole and especially his father were extremely disappointed in him, not understanding what was going on with him. And that's when Kurt decided, he was going to stop bringing everyone down. Disappointing everyone, he was simply going to disappear. He plotted it out well. He took all of his savings and bought a one-way ticket to London, the farthest place he could think of going, and pocketed the rest of it. The night before his departure, he watched Blaine intently, studying, him, hoping to memorize him, freeze him in his brain so he could always remember him. He knew Blaine was planning on breaking up with him, and the only reason he hadn't yet was because he loved Kurt to much to hurt him, leaving was going to save Blaine the trouble. The night before he left, he wanted to sleep with Blaine one more time, he felt guilty the entire time, but it was something, they both needed he thought. He woke up the next morning and went to classes as normal. Once class was over, he went home, threw some items into a bag, left his key on the nightstand and left, throwing his phone out in an outdoor dumpster before gliding into a taxi. He cried the entire flight.

Once he got to London, he had no clue what to do. He ended up checking into a hostel and living there for about a week. One day he was exploring and decided to venture into a fancy British store for fun, and that's when he met Cole. He had been shopping as well, and after spotting Kurt he followed him around. He finally, purposely bumped into Kurt, and used that as his way to strike up a conversation.

"_Oh sorry about that" Cole said, shooting Kurt a smile that went straight to his heart. _

"_It's fine" Kurt said quietly, Cole smiled. _

"_American? Are you on Holiday?" Cole had asked. _

"_No, here for good, well as soon as I find a job" Kurt says. Cole smile widens even more. _

"_You're in luck, I'm looking for an assistant, are you interested?" _

Kurt hadn't even known what Cole did, but he didn't care, Cole was gorgeous and offered him a job, he took it on the spot. It was the icing on the cake that Cole was a fashion designer, and when he found out Kurt was into fashion, he was even more excited. One day after work, Cole offered to walk Kurt home. Kurt explained that he was currently looking for a place and living in a hostel, and Cole wasn't having that.

"_No assistant of mine will be living in a hostel. You'll move in with me." Cole demanded. _

"_I couldn't do that, I wouldn't be able to afford rent, I'm sure you live in an expensive place" Cole just smirks. _

"_We can think of other ways you can compensate me" he said. _

When Kurt moved in he found out that Cole only had one bedroom. And that's when they became fuck buddies. After work Cole would usually go out, and Kurt would go straight to the apartment. If Cole didn't find anything else he would come home to Kurt, and have his way with him. Kurt didn't mind this arrangement, he made Kurt feel loved, he spoiled him with fancy clothes, and a fully stocked refrigerator. A year into their arrangement, Kurt was asked out on a date. Kurt had decided to say yes, figuring it would be a fun way to spend the evening, but this angered Cole. Kurt was surprised when he found Cole home in the apartment before him that night.

"_Did you have fun?" Cole asked from his spot on the couch, placing his Vogue to the side. _

"_Yeah he was nice" Kurt said, not convincingly. Cole got up from the couch and grabbed Kurt close to him. _

"_You're my boyfriend now" he said before attacking Kurt's lips._

And they were boyfriends, Kurt didn't object. He knew Cole cheated on him, but Kurt didn't really mind, because he was cheating on him to, with his mind at least. And that brought Kurt to where he was now, working for Cole, sleeping with Cole, "dating Cole". And that's why he had no choice but to move back to New York, because what Cole said goes.

"Good morning" Cole said walking into the kitchen, kissing Kurt on a swollen part of his neck, and smirking at his handiwork before grabbing a mug. After pouring himself some coffee he sits across from Kurt at the table.

"You might want to wear a scarf today" Cole says mischievously.

"Last night was pretty interesting" Cole adds, and Kurt looks down at the table.

"Sorry about that, I don't know what got into Finn" Kurt said. Cole takes a sip of his coffee.

"I meant in the bedroom", Kurt flushes. And that was what he loved about Cole, he never once questioned Kurt on his past, he never asked about his family, and he didn't pester Kurt on what happened last night.

"So today we'll go into my new office, and see what has to be done. I have to fly back to London tonight, I'll be back in a week, maybe two" Cole said nonchalantly.

"Can't I go with you, I need to get my stuff" Kurt said eyes wide.

"You need to stay here and make sure everything is situated for when I get back. And I'll grab your stuff, and anything I forget I'll just buy you here". Kurt is panicking; he doesn't want to be in this city, especially alone.

"We need to go" Cole says noticing the time, walking back towards the bedroom, leaving Kurt sitting in the kitchen, still freaking out.

…..

"I can't believe he just walked away from you" Burt said, he had just arrived to New York with Carole in tow, and Burt was currently sitting on Finn and Rachel's sofa, his head buried in his hands.

"What did we do to make him hate us so much?" Burt said sadly.

"He doesn't hate you. He was just going through a rough time when he left, and obviously still is" Carole says rubbing Burt's back.

"What do we do now, look up this boyfriend of his?" Burt asks, and Carole shakes his head.

"First you need to rest, and then we will figure this all out tomorrow. But if I may, I think maybe it would be best if you let him come to you" Carole said.

"He's not going to come to us," Finn said, and Rachel shot him a look.

"I want to talk to Blaine" Burt said, everyone looked at him.

"Honey, you know Blaine said he was going to keep his distance when he sent us Kurt's stuff back. He needed to, to move on," Carole said calmly.

"I want to know exactly what was going on before Kurt left, not just some shit about him assuming Kurt was depressed and not liking school, I want exact details".

"That boy doesn't need to be upset anymore" Carole says.

"I'm not going to yell at him, Rachel you can call him right?"

"Sure" Rachel says hesitantly.

"Good girl" Burt says before walking to the bathroom.

…..

Blaine woke up next to a warm body, which in recent months wasn't common and startled him a little. But he smiled when he turned around and saw Oliver staring back at him.

"Morning" Oliver said yawning a little.

"Didn't expect to see you this morning" Blaine said moving in closer to Oliver.

"Day off" Oliver says with a smile on his face.

"Did you find your friend Kurt"?

"Yeah, he wanted nothing to do with me or Finn, he's dating some fashion hot shot or something" Blaine shrugged. "At least we tried" he added. "When did you get back?" Blaine asked.

"About an hour ago" Oliver said, yawning again.

"So what should we do today?" Oliver asks. Blaine smiles suggestively, rolling till he is on top of Oliver, and straddles him.

"I have an idea" Blaine says, wiggling a little before leaning down to capture Oliver's lips in his. The second their lips make contact Blaine whines and swipes his tongue against Oliver's lips until he opens his mouth, allowing it inside. Just then Blaine's phone rings. Both men groan and Oliver grabs Blaine's face and brings it back to his.

"Ignore it" Oliver says huskily. Blaine leans down to kiss him again, Oliver bringing his hands to the small of Blaine's back, but Blaine is distracted, the back of his mind is wondering if someone was calling about Kurt. Blaine pulls away and Oliver let's out a short breath.

"Sorry" Blaine says as he rolls off of Oliver grabbing his phone from his bed side table. He frowns when he see's Rachel's name on the caller ID.

"Hey" he says a little breathlessly.

"Hey Blaine, is this a good time?" he looks at Oliver who has his eyes closed, and hands behind his head.

"Yeah, what's up"?

"Burt was wondering if maybe you could come over and talk to him?" Rachel says slowly. Blaine swallows a little, he was afraid of this.

"I-yeah sure" he says. "When"?

"Now? Sorry but he hasn't slept much and Carole is worried".

"On my way" Blaine says hanging up the phone. Oliver opens his eyes and gives Blaine a dirty look.

"Where are you going"?

"Kurt's dad wants to talk to me" Blaine said getting off the bed, grabbing a pair of jeans from the ground and slipping them on. He rummages through a drawer and grabs the first shirt he can find.

"It's my only day off" Oliver reminds him.

"I know but you need to sleep anyway, and I'll be back in an hour tops" he walks to Oliver's side and kisses him quickly before quickly heading towards the door.

….

"Hi Blaine" Rachel says when she answered the door smiling brightly. She hugs him quickly before leading him into the living room. He notices Carole and Burt sitting on the couch, and he's surprised how much they've aged since he last seen them a couple years ago. He figured most of it was from stress. Carole got up from the couch and gave Blaine a tight squeeze.

"You look so good" she cooed into his ear.

"Hello Blaine" Burt said from the couch. Blaine went up and shook his hand firmly.

"Well let's leave them to it" Carole said leading Finn and Rachel into the kitchen.

"Thanks for going with Finn yesterday" Burt said as Blaine sat down.

"Of course" Blaine said folding his hands in his lap, a sign that he was nervous.

"So I know we've talked about this already. But I was wondering if you could tell me exactly what happened before Kurt left. I find his behavior yesterday to be so not like him. If there's anything you didn't mention to protect Kurt or even yourself, I need to know, I won't judge or yell at you" Burt said sincerely. Blaine watched Burt for a moment before taking a deep breath.

"I noticed in September, he wasn't happy. He wasn't making friends, he seemed to be struggling with his work, but for the most part he hid his sadness pretty well. In October he got really drunk, and told me his teachers told him he wouldn't make it as a designer." Burt growled. "And after that was when things got bad. He failed his midterms, well you know that, but he was avoiding me, we weren't really speaking, he was barely talking to Rachel or anyone". His voice quivered a little.

"It's ok son" Burt reassured him.

"I was planning on breaking up with him. I knew it was hard on him that I was so happy when he obviously wasn't. I avoided the apartment because I usually ended up in a bad mood when I went home. I'd gone as far as checking to see if Rachel would let Kurt move in. I was going to stay at a friend's apartment and give him time to collect his things. But he left before I had the chance". Burt looked ahead emotionless at Blaine, which only made him more nervous.

"I think Kurt knew I was going to break it off, he wasn't dumb" Blaine added, and Burt nodded his head in agreement.

"Can I ask you something"? Burt asks, and Blaine nods his head.

"If you were going to break up with him, why were you so helpful with trying to find him"?

"I loved him. And I blamed myself for him leaving, for not trying to do something about it, and I thought that was my way making things better". Burt smiles.

"You're a good kid you know that. And you shouldn't blame yourself, I don't think there was anything you could have done" Blaine smiles shyly at Burt, he had missed him.

"Carole thinks we should wait to see if Kurt comes to us, but I don't think he will" Blaine nods his head in agreement.

"I know you're in a relationship, but if I do find Kurt, would you want to see him? Get some closure? I think you deserve that much" Burt said. Blaine was surprised at Burt's question.

"I'm not sure, seeing him yesterday was hard" Blaine says honestly.

"I'm sure it was kiddo. Think about it, I'll have Rachel call you when or if he does come to us" he sighs.

"Thanks Burt" Blaine says with a smile. Blaine get's up to head towards the door when his phone beeps, he smiles when he see's it's a text from Oliver.

_I got called in, I'll see you tomorrow xox_

…

Kurt was angrily chopping up bits of chicken to throw into his salad. He was officially alone for the week, and very unhappy about it to say the least. Cole promised it would only be a week, tops two, and Kurt would be so busy with setting up the office that it would fly by, but it was only an hour and he was already miserable.

"Shit" he screamed when he accidently sliced his finger. He quickly runs to the sink to run water over it, and bites his lips when it doesn't stop bleeding. He grabs a paper towel and wraps his tightly around his finger. After holding it there for five minutes he notices how deep the cut is, and how it wouldn't stop bleeding.

Kurt had to take a taxi to the hospital, clutching a paper towel roll in his hands. After waiting for twenty minutes in the waiting room, they finally called him in. After waiting another ten minutes for a doctor, a very handsome man in scrubs enters his room. He's tall, tan, and has a full head of blonde hair. Kurt thought he could easily pass for a model. He smiled at Kurt as he picked his chart up from the table, and Kurt wishes he had been wearing something more flattering.

"What seems to be the problem Mr." he pauses to read the chart, "Kurt Hummel", Kurt notices his tone of voice drastically changed when he said Kurt's name.

"I sliced my finger with a knife" Kurt says trying to ignore it, what was wrong with his name?

"So you did" the handsome man said, examining Kurt's hand.

"I'll send a nurse in to get you stitched up" he said fleeing the room quickly.

Oliver left Kurt's room quickly and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He had two choices, he could be a great boyfriend and call Blaine and tell him Kurt was here, so Blaine could tell Kurt's father, and risk getting in trouble, or he could be a crappy boyfriend, save his job, and his relationship. He put's the phone up to his ear and takes a deep breath.


	3. Chapter 3

"When I called you, I wasn't expecting you to bring her" Oliver said. He was standing arms crossed in the hospital lobby, giving Blaine and Santana an amused look.

"It's a pity you're not straight" she says seductively.

"You aren't either" Oliver reminds her.

"Whatever".

"I thought about calling Burt, but judging Kurt's reaction to Finn, I thought his dad would push him away even more. And Santana-".

"I'm what I like to call a bitch. And Kurt needs a case of tough love, which I will easily be able to serve, I have a plan" Santana said crossing her arms.

"What's your plan?" Blaine asks. Santana fiddles through her purse and pulls out a photo album.

"You own a photo album"? Blaine laughs, finding it hilarious.

"I'm a photographer" she says rolling her eyes. "But this is Britney's, she put together an album of New Directions from High School till now. I thought it could show him what he's been missing". Blaine is impressed.

"I'll lead the way" Oliver said. They weaved through hallways, past people being wheeled in stretchers and doctors who had their faces buried in charts, Blaine didn't know how his boyfriend did this everyday.

"He's in here" Oliver said pointing to the door they were currently standing in front of.

"I have to go check on some people, you have ten minutes" Oliver said rushing off towards a different hallway.

"I'll wait out here" Blaine said.

"I got this" she said reassuring pushing the door open.

_Santana threw her keys drunkenly on the coffee table she got from the Salvation Army only a month ago and leaned against the wall smiling. Another successful Friday night. She didn't even remember the name of the club she went to, but it didn't matter, her body was buzzing from alcohol and adrenaline. Deciding to move to New York was the best decision she ever made, screw the modeling agencies that thought she was too exotic looking, or that her boobs were to big, classes didn't suck as much as she expected, and the people were amazing. And when she got homesick, all she had to do was call up Blaine, Kurt or Rachel Berry, as if she could ever be that desperate. She could vaguely hear her phone ringing from her purse, and she smiled hoping maybe one the girls she gave her number to were already calling her. She frowned when she saw Rachel's name, she never ever called Santana. There was that one time Senior Year when Santana had overslept and almost missed the bus to Regionals, and Rachel had called screaming at her, but otherwise, nothing. She could just ignore it, but talking to Rachel drunk sounded pretty amusing to Santana, so she clicked accept. _

"_H'llo Willow" she said, cracking herself up. _

"_Santana" Rachel's voice wasn't her usual I'm better than everyone except the president, and it wasn't her cheerful I love Finn Hudson voice either. It was sad, and scratchy, was she crying?_

"_Have you seen or heard from Kurt tonight"? Santana rolled her eyes, here he goes again. She loved Kurt she did, but he was doing this disappearance act all the time, wallowing in self-pity or whatever, she thought they were all used to this by now. _

"_No, he's probably taking an angsty stroll through Central Park or something" Santana said making her way to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. _

"_We-Blaine and I, we think he's gone" Rachel said, her voice squeaking a little as she said it. _

"_What do you mean gone? I'm sure he's fine, he's just being his dramatic own self". Rachel proceeded to tell Santana a series of things including his key being left at home, some stuff missing, but Santana was having trouble listening, between the alcohol and shock. Did Kurt really leave? It didn't sound like him, he wouldn't do that Blaine. _

"_Finn and his dad are flying now, and we spoke to the police but they can't do much for a runaway, he's an adult", Rachel's voice cracks again. Santana looks at the clock and realizes it's 3 am, Blaine and Rachel must have been dealing with this all night. _

"_How's Blaine?" Santana asks. _

"_Not good, I'll call you if we hear anything" Rachel said before hanging up. What a buzz-kill for the great night she had been having. Santana flopped into her bed, allowing herself to succumb to a drunken sleep. She woke up, realizing it wasn't a dream when she had 13 missed calls. A couple from Rachel, 5 from Britney, and some from Quinn and Puck. News must travel fast. Santana ignored the __calls and went to take a shower. She allowed her thoughts to travel to the last time she had seen Kurt, three days ago. He had wanted to meet for coffee, which she thought was weird because he had been avoiding most people lately, but she agreed out of boredom. He spent most of the time asking about how she was doing, not seeming the least bit interested, but questioned none the less. She asked about him and he quickly changed the subject to Mercedes having a new boyfriend. Before he left he gave her a hug, and told her how proud he was of her for accepting herself. She had found Kurt's behavior odd, but not unlike Kurt to be dramatic. Thinking back now, he knew then he was leaving, and that was his goodbye to her. If she had been a better person, she would have realized that, she would have cared more that Kurt was acting strange, she could have done something to prevent it. And that thought would haunt her for the rest of her days. _

"Santana"? Kurt said, very confused and slightly annoyed. Santana snapped out of her train of thought and realized she had been lingering in Kurt's doorway, staring at him. He looked practically the same, except for the sadness in his eyes; she hadn't seen like that since Sophomore year.

"Hello Porcelain" she said in only a way Santana could, she didn't allow herself to run over and hug him like she wanted to, she had a mission.

"How did you know I was here?", he asks, and she smiles because she can tell he was impressed.

"I know all" she says plopping down on the hard plastic chair beside the cot he was sitting it.

"You look good. A little bony, but good, glad to see you still know how to take care of your self" she said.

"You're boobs look bigger" he observes.

"Nah, you just haven't seen them in a while" Kurt rolls his eyes.

"Why are you here"?

"Curiosity, wanted to see what big things you were up to, since you were to busy to call anyone or anything" she said folding her arms.

"If you're here to yell-".

"No yelling. I mean what you did was pretty selfish, but so are a lot of the things I do, so I guess that makes you and me pretty similar".

"Wonderful" Kurt says looking down. Santana pulls the photo album out from underneath her jacket and tosses it on the bed. Kurt looks down at it, biting his lip.

"To show you what you missed out on" she explains. Kurt runs a finger down the binding but doesn't move to open it.

"What's the big deal, it's not like you missed us or anything", she says tauntingly. Kurt opens the book and stares down at the first page, the New Direction's Yearbook picture from Sophomore Year. He looks down at his baby face, and remembers that although for the first time he was feeling accepted, he was still insanely lonely. He flips the page to the next image from Junior year, the last meeting before summer break. Kurt's smile is irreplaceable; he had just come back from a coffee date with Blaine, where they told each other they loved one another for the first time. Kurt saw the happy, optimistic human being he used to be, and quickly flipped the page.

The next page had three pictures from graduation. The top one was of Britney and Santana, but in the background you could see Blaine and Kurt. They were leaning against a tree, their foreheads pressed together, and they had they goofiest smiles on their faces. The picture below it was of Britney and Kurt, and the one below that was of all New Directions and . He had been so filled with dreams then, dreams that were silly and unnecessary.

The next photo was from the summer before they left for school, Rachel had thrown a big Bon Voyage party for herself Kurt and Blaine, and it was the last time New Directions were all together. Mercedes was clutching Kurt for dear life, both their eyes swollen. He looks around at his old friend's faces and realizes that everyone had been crying a little but he hadn't noticed that at the time.

Kurt's heart sinks when he see's the next photo. It was from right before he spiraled into depression. Britney had came to visit, and Kurt had thrown a dinner party, and Rachel, Santana and Blaine were all there. Kurt remembered how grown up he felt setting the table Blaine's parents had bought them. He was sad at this point, but thankful he still had these wonderful people in his life. This was the last picture all of them took at the same time.

The next image is of New Direction's, missing one person, him.

"That was Christmas Break Freshman year, Finn and Burt came home for the Holidays. They both moved to New York, after well you know" Santana explains. Kurt recognizes that they are all in Rachel's basement. Blaine is there, but his eyes seem vacant. Everyone else is smiling, but their normal pizzazz is missing.

"We spent the whole time wondering where you were, it was a buzz kill" she says. Kurt meets Santana's eyes for a moment, and doesn't miss the sadness she is trying to hide. Kurt flips page after page, most are New Direction's reunions. One from the summer after Freshman year, missing Finn, who apparently stayed in the city for the summer with Burt. Image after image and the group seemed get happier and happier, but Kurt couldn't deny there was something missing. Kurt's eyes widen at the next picture.

"Mike and Tina got married?" he exclaims, and Santana laughs.

"I thought Britney told you. Summer before Sophomore year, they only did it so they're parents would let them live together". Kurt smiles at how beautiful Tina looked in her dress. Everyone from New Directions was surrounding her; they all seemed the happiest out of all the pictures.

"We didn't sing to her, we decided it wasn't right". Kurt doesn't have to ask her what she meant, he knew she meant because he wasn't there. The rest of the pictures are all the same, dinners at Breadsticks, and parties, people started to go missing more and more. Santana had explained where everyone was whether it had been internships, summer classes, vacations with a loved one. Kurt smiled at the picture of Britney holding a little baby, Mike and Tina standing beside her.

"They had the baby at the beginning of Senior year, before Britney moved out here with me. She's a cutie, and that says a lot coming from me, babies are sticky" Santana said. The next picture is from Blaine's graduation from NYU. He's wearing his cap and gown, surrounded by Rachel, Finn, Britney, Santana, and right beside him was, was that his really cute doctor? Kurt looks up and Santana nods knowing.

"Oliver. They met before we all graduated. He's a looker, but kind of boring" Santana says. The next picture is of Rachel's graduation, and he smiles when he see's his father and Carole standing beside her with Britney, Finn and Blaine.

"I took that picture, Britney dragged me there. That was the first time you're dad came to the city since he moved back home". Kurt feels his heart break a little, his father moved to try to find him. The next picture is of Finn and Santana's graduation; Kurt realized that Finn must have transferred there.

"Quinn is married too"? Kurt asks when he's see's the next picture. It's like Tina and Mike's wedding picture, expect at a much fancier place, he doesn't recognize the groom, and Blaine isn't there.

"Pastor Rick, I know how ironic. Blaine stopped talking to everyone by this point. Well he still talks to us NYC people, but otherwise, he doesn't go to see other new Direction's people besides Mercedes once and a while". Kurt wonders how Mercedes is, but doesn't bother to ask. The last picture in the album is of what he assumes to be Quinn's baby shower. She is surrounded by all New Directions people, besides Blaine, and positively glowing, her little pregnant belly covered in bows. Kurt thought it was amusing that Rachel had been there, but a lot of things obviously changed, life had moved on, just like he had hoped. He closed the book and handed it back to Santana.

"It took us a while to move on. Maybe some us haven't but we are able to pretend we are. We can all live without you Kurt, but you're dad, he can't. You've proven to be heartless, but I know you, you're not that heartless. See your dad Kurt, I don't care if I never see you again, as long as you see your dad" she gives him a stern look.

"I can't", his voice low, Santana lets out a breath.

"I guess you and me are exactly the same then", he knows she doesn't mean it as a compliment. Just then Oliver opens the door.

"Ready to get out of here" he asks, and Kurt nods his head enthusiastically. Santana gets up to leave, and against Kurt's better judgment he calls out to her.

"Wait for me?" He asks, and she nods her head, biting down hard to prevent herself from smiling. Oliver steps up and hands Kurt his discharge papers.

"You know I think you breached some sort of patient doctor confidentiality code", Kurt said, a smile tugging on his face.

"I'm technically not a doctor yet, almost though". Kurt quickly signs the forms, and Oliver clears Kurt. They speak no more then they have to, Kurt notices the tense looks Oliver gives him and he wonders if Kurt being back threatens him. Kurt steps out of his room and see's Santana still waiting for him, Blaine beside her. His heart does that weird triple beat it did the first time he saw Blaine, but it didn't startle him as much. Blaine smiles a little at him before going off to follow Oliver down a hallway, Kurt trying to take the image out of his head of them kissing in a nurse's station.

"So" Santana says, her voice intrigued.

"My boyfriend is out of town for the week, and my apartment is lonely and I-"

"You can stay with me" she says, internally doing a victory dance.

"Can you please not tell anyone" his eyes begging.

"Yeah, but you'll have to explain that one to Britney" she said. They walk down the hospital hallway side-by-side and silent. So Kurt wasn't ready to see anyone else, him being in her apartment for the week was just where she wanted him, it was a start.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"_Blaine are you home?" Kurt called out, opening the door to his new apartment, juggling many shopping bags. Blaine comes out from the bedroom and laughs when he see's his boyfriend, but eventually goes over and takes a couple bags out of his hands. _

"_Are we feeding the army?" Blaine asks when he sees the amount of food Kurt brought home. _

"_Tonight is special" Kurt says heading towards the kitchen dropping the bags clumsily on the counter. _

"_And why is that?" Blaine asks, secretly trying to make sure he isn't forgetting an important anniversary or birthday. _

"_Tonight is the first night Rachel hasn't invited herself over for dinner, and we finally have our apartment to just the two of us", Kurt says in an obvious tone. Blaine smiles when he realizes Kurt was right, they only moved in three days ago, and Kurt's family had only left yesterday afternoon, and Rachel had invited herself over for dinner both nights, because having an apartment to herself wasn't as glamorous as she thought it would be. _

"_Thank God for Julliard's musical theatre mixer" Blaine says with a smile. _

"_Seriously, I was waiting for her to show up with all her stuff she was spending so much time here, hopefully she makes some friends and not only enemies, or else she will never leave us alone". _

"_Be nice, she's just lonely" Blaine says, grabbing an apple out of one of the bags and takes a bite out of it. _

"_Which is partially my step-brother's fault, if he had just sucked it up and came out here, she would be fine". _

"_Yeah, but then your dad would have made you live with him, and I would have been stuck with Rachel" Blaine points out. _

"_True, in that case I have no sympathy for her". Blaine laughs at his boyfriend, he places his apple down on and wraps his arms around Kurt's waist, leaning him into the counter. _

"_You know, we still have a lot of rooms to christen" Blaine said with a big grin causing Kurt to turn red. _

"_Later. I want to cook us a special dinner" Kurt said playfully smacking Blaine till he pulled away. Blaine plopped down on the lumpy sofa they got from a street corner and smiled watching his boyfriend go to work. What did Blaine do to deserve this? He didn't care that their apartment was smaller than his bedroom back home, that most of their furniture was from second hand stores or that the sink dripped loudly and kept him up half the night, watching Kurt hum along to some show tune, cutting up vegetables made all of this worth it, because Blaine and Kurt could finally start their life together. They didn't have to worry much about homophobic acts, or being walked in on by parents, they were just them, and they were about to start an incredible ride together. _

"Earth to Curly Q, did you even hear anything I just said?" Santana snapped at Blaine through the phone. Blaine immediately opened his eyes and realized that he was in his and Oliver's apartment. Oliver was sitting on the couch with him sprawled out, reading a textbook filled with scary images Blaine hoped to never encounter in real life. He remembered that he had been going through some papers from work when Santana had called, and then he remembered exactly what Santana had called about.

"Did you just say Kurt is living with you?" Blaine said, missing Oliver give him a look of concern and slight frustration.

"Whoa. No one said anything about living with me. He's staying with me for a week while his boyfriend is out of town" Santana corrected him.

"Well that's great, good job. Did you call Burt yet?"

"Not exactly" Santana said her voice a little higher than normal.

"Do you need his number"?

"I promised Kurt I wouldn't tell anyone he was here" Santana said reluctantly.

"Jesus Santana. Burt is here planning some big "get my son back" mission and you're not going to tell him his son is sleeping on your couch?" Blaine was angry.

"Chill out Bilbo Baggins, I got this. If I call his dad, Kurt will just go running off again, at least now he's right under my nose, and I can work on him some more. You're lucky I'm even agreeing to this, Kurt and me really weren't even that close", she said.

"You know that's not true" Blaine said and he could hear Santana sigh slightly. Kurt had been there for Santana throughout senior year when she had to come to grips with her sexuality.

"I was just calling to let you know, I don't understand why you're getting so involved with this, it's not your problem anymore", she reminded him, which made Blaine sad. She was right, they were broken up, although they never officially broke up with each other, leaving and not speaking to someone for five years was the equivalence of a break-up. But when it came to Kurt, Blaine always felt the need to help him, ever since he first laid eyes on him on that staircase. Sure Blaine was like that with all people really, but there was always something different when it came to Kurt.

"I just worry about him" Blaine said quietly.

"I know and that's why everyone loves you. But you should be focusing all of this unnecessary attention on that hot boyfriend of yours. I mean he has the personality of a Brillo pad, but I assume he must be good in bed if you've kept him around this long" Blaine looks up at Oliver who is mouthing the words as he reads them from his textbook.

"Just keep me updated alright" he asks, and he hears Santana chuckle from the other line.

"Yeah, yeah. I'd say the same to you, but I really don't want to hear about you two playing doctor, watching however, I'd be into".

"Bye Santana" Blaine said laughing placing his phone on the coffee table. He picked up his work papers from his lap, and groans out of boredom.

"It's not like you to have to bring work home" Oliver says. Blaine looks up and see's Oliver watching him.

"Yeah, I guess I've been distracted" Blaine said nonchalantly.

"I've noticed" Oliver said turning back to his book, but that comment made Blaine twitch a little, what was that supposed to mean?

"Is everything ok?" Blaine asks, a slight annoyance in his voice.

"Yeah. It's just Santana is right you know, this whole Kurt thing really isn't your problem anymore, you guys aren't together, Kurt obviously doesn't want to see you, why don't you just let his friends handle all of this?" Oliver wasn't one for confrontation, and Blaine could here the slight hesitance in his voice.

"You know it's not easy for me, we have a history. And you were the one encouraging me to help in the first place" Blaine reminds him.

"Yeah but I didn't realize how obsessed you would get over this" Oliver says honestly.

"I'm not obsessed. His family was really good to me, and I just want to see them happy" Blaine says, although he's not sure if he believes himself. Oliver on the other hand does, his face softens a little.

"I understand" he say's going back to his textbook. Blaine was just about to go back to his work when he realized something.

"You could hear what Santana was saying?" he says amusement playing across his face.

"Yup, I also agree that you should focusing all of your attention on me" Oliver says with a grin.

"Well I try, but you're either to tired, too busy, or not here" Blaine says flatly. Oliver sighs and puts the textbook down, he crawls across the couch until he is right beside Blaine and climbs into his lap straddling him.

"I know. And I also know how lucky I am to have you in my life. Most of the people in my program are single, and you have been nothing but patient with me. I want to make it up to you" Oliver says.

"I can think of a couple of a ways" Blaine says wiggling his eyebrows before leaning in for a kiss, but Oliver pulls back and laughs.

"I was thinking more along the lines of going to Ohio next week when I'm off before I need to sell my soul back to the hospital. You never get to see your family", Blaine winces.

"That is more along the lines of a punishment" Blaine says, and Oliver frowns.

"They weren't so bad when we had them over for dinner last time, I think they like me", Oliver says.

"They like the idea that you are a doctor, and not as flamboyant as Ku-other people they've mey" Oliver knows he means Kurt, that Kurt was the only other.

"I think you are too hard on them" Oliver counters.

"You weren't around when I was growing, hence why Kurt's family means so much to me".

Oliver climbs off of Blaine's lap and goes back to his side of the couch. He grabs the textbook from the floor and starts to read again.

"Just an idea" Oliver says frustrated, but Blaine doesn't bother to answer him, he just goes back to his work.

….

It was weird that Kurt was sitting across from her, sprawled out on her couch, laughing at a story Britney was telling. If she were to close her eyes and just listen, she could easily trick her mind into thinking they were all still in High School, but when she opened them again, she could notice the age on their faces. Kurt looked over to Santana, noticing how quiet she was being, and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Everything ok?" he questioned, and Santana quickly wiped the nostalgic smile off her face and frowned.

"Peachy. So what's the plan for tonight? We could go out, get into some trouble".

"No, you two go right ahead but I'm staying here", he said, causing Santana to roll her eyes.

"Whatever, what kind of take-out do you want"? Kurt wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"I don't eat take-out" he said frowning. "I'll cook" he offered. Santana smiled, she wasn't one to turn down a home-cooked meal, especially since Brittney and her didn't cook themselves.

"Knock yourself out" she said, and Kurt leapt up from the couch, a huge smile on his face.

"Want to help?" he asked Brittney, and she clapped her hands enthusiastically, following him into the kitchen.

It was hard not to notice how at home Kurt seemed chopping up vegetables and boiling pasta. He was humming, gliding around the kitchen giving Brittney instructions, and grabbing supplies. He magically seemed to know where everything was, it was like he was the kitchen whisperer.

"So Santana" he called out, probably noticing her watching him carefully, "Any lovely ladies in your life"? Santana was surprised by his question, because he had been avoiding asking any questions, and here he was comfortably making small talk.

"Uh no, not any recently" she said amused.

"What about you Britney"? Kurt saw Britney's smile immediately fade, her eyes filled with sadness, she looked like a hopeless puppy, and Santana was shooting daggers at his head with her intense stare.

"Sorry I didn't realize-"

"It's ok Kurt, we're friends and friends talk about stuff" Britney said, and Santana smiled at the flash of guilt Kurt had.

"I joined a dance company, and I got to travel everywhere, and be in music videos, and concerts, and the head dancer and me started to date. We dated for a while until I found

out he was engaged, and people started calling me stupid for not knowing, and I don't like to be called stupid, so I moved here", she explained. Kurt frowned, he had always felt protective of Britney, and hated how many people took advantage of such a sweet person, he was glad that Santana was around to watch out for her.

"Blaine told me your boyfriend is a designer, right?" Santana knew that the chance of Kurt answering her question was slim, but she figured since he was in a questioning mood, that maybe he would answer. She watched his face harden at her question, his eyes moving back and forth, like he was having an internal conflict of whether or not to answer the question.

"Yes" he said simply, and Santana smiled, that was the most he answered about himself the entire time.

"Are you designers together?" Britney asked with a smile, Kurt's face hardened again, and Santana sighed in defeat, there goes Kurt's progress.

"I'm not a designer" he said quietly, and Santana sat straight up again, watching as Kurt slowly mixed his homemade sauce, very concentrated.

"I thought that's what you wanted to do, remember you used to stick me with pins cuz Blaine didn't want to model girl's clothes, you always gave me cookies after", Kurt smirked at the memory, his mixing strokes becoming less gentle.

"That was just a dream, the reality is that I'm not cut out for it", he took the bowl off the counter and gripped it in is hands, making it easier to stir rougher.

"Who told you that?" Santana asked, her voice serious, but Kurt only shook his head.

"I work for a designer now, my boyfriend actually, and I'm happy" he said. He started to pour his sauce over the noodles in a pan.

"What do you do?" Britney questioned.

"I'm his assistant" Britney frowned.

"That doesn't sound like you" she said honestly. Kurt turned around to look Britney straight in the eyes.

"You don't really know me anymore do you?" he said, and Santana had a feeling that comment was directed more to her than it was to Britney.

Kurt cooled off from their heated conversation while making the rest of their dinner. And it had been delicious, despite the drama. Once the plates were cleared the trio made their way to the living room to sip wine and watch some black and white musical Kurt insisted on. In the middle of the main actresses' solo (which sounded familiar, probably something Berry sang once upon a time) there was a knock at the door. Kurt immediately stiffened in his seat and looked like he was about to jump out of her 13-story window.

"Relax, I have other friends" she reassured him making her way to the door.

"Who is it?" she called out tentatively.

"It's Rachel" her muffled yet still distinct voice said. Santana turned around and looked at Kurt, who was obviously planning his escape.

"Why are you here?" Santana questioned, trying to stall.

"I know I never come here. But Finn and his family are camped out on my living room planning their rescue Kurt mission, it's my night off so I can't go to the theatre, all of my other friends have fabulous plans and Blaine's phone is off which means he is having one on one time with Oliver". Santana didn't miss the way Kurt's eyes flashed darker, the way Santana's used to when Britney dated Artie in High School.

"I just need to get out my apartment, and I didn't know where else to go" Rachel said honestly.

"Now's not a good time" Santana said quickly.

"Really Santana I never bother you, can you just be nice, like for once" Rachel begged, which was very unlike her. Kurt got up with out a sound and went into Santana's bedroom, closing the door behind him. She tried to shoot Britney a "keep your mouth shut" look but she was pretty sure she didn't even notice.

"Hello Berry" Santana said opening the door. Rachel stepped through the threshold without even being asked, hanging her jacket on a hook.

"You're watching 'Hello Dolly' starring my idol and you weren't going to let me in?" Rachel said plopping down dramatically on the couch.

"Sorry we were having uh- roommate bonding time" Santana said. Rachel took in the wine bottle on the table and raised her eyebrows.

"Not that kind of bonding" Santana said rolling her eyes.

The only sounds that filled the room were of Barbra Streisand for a while, until Rachel started dramatically sighing. After about the third time Santana paused the movie, and looked over at Rachel.

"Something you need to get off your chest?" she said sarcastically.

"I just- I'm really mad at Kurt- Does that make me a horrible person? I mean he had to come back and uproot my life again, and he won't even show himself. I don't know if I can take this a second time" Rachel said. Santana looked extremely uncomfortable, she knew Kurt could hear every word Rachel just said, and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

"I already think you are a horrible person" Santana stated hoping that would change the subject.

"Rachel you can't be mad at Kurt because he is a good hider. You aren't going to win the game by sitting on the couch" Britney said, and Santana shot her death glares.

"What game?" Rachel asked confused.

"Aren't you playing hide and seek?" Britney asked.

"No" Santana said hastily.

"Oh well you better go tell Kurt he doesn't need to hide in your room then" Britney said simply, and Santana watched as realization flashed across Rachel's face.

Rachel got off the couch slowly, making her way down Santana's hallway. She paused in front of Santana's door and took a shaky breath before pushing it open slowly.

"Wow" she said when it opened. She found her self face to face with a very familiar pair of blue eyes.

…..

_Rachel wanted to be anywhere but here. She watched her fellow theatre mates stumble around the room, and worried about the state of future performers. The invitation to the "Annual Little/Bigs Theatre Party" had said classy attire, so Rachel was dressed to the nines, wearing a floor length blush pink gown she found at a vintage shop (one of her favorite things in New York City, all the vintage shops). All the other girls however were wearing dresses shorter than what Santana would wear, and Rachel was concerned that classy now meant slutty. The guys at least wore nice shirts and ties, but most of them paired them with converse sneakers, and that made Rachel want to cry. _

_She didn't understand the point of a Little/Bigs program, but it was mandatory that every student participate, well not from the school, they had no clue it existed, or they pretended that they didn't. Rachel's big was a Senior girl, who acted so sickenly sweet to her, she knew it was fake, and in reality had a feeling Cynthia was actually extremely jealous of Rachel's voice. And that was the other problem she had with this, they could get drunk and pretend they all loved each other tonight, but at class on Monday they would all go back to wanting to rip each other's throats out. Rachel was naturally competitive, so she was able to bring her A-game no matter how many glasses of Champagne she had, which she was pretty sure was 4. _

"_Having fun?" her friend Susie asked, and Rachel smirked when she noticed that she got the memo that slutty was the new classy, her white dress, if you could even call it that was leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination, and it made Rachel extremely uncomfortable._

"_Rachel I love you, but you are never going to get Trent's attention wearing that" she looked Rachel up and down._

"_Scratch that, you will certainly get his attention, but not in a good way" she added, and Rachel rolled her eyes. _

"_Then it's a good thing I don't want his attention" Rachel said crossing her arms. _

_Trent was the god of the Theatre Program. He was a senior who had been getting lead rolls since he was a Freshman, he was an extreme teacher's pet, and was very influential when it came to a lot of decision making in the school, it helped that he was also extremely dreamy, green eyes, honey hair and very well built. His father had been the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera when it closed, and he was also a significant alumni. In order to move up in the Theatre program, you needed to get on his good side, and for girls that meant sleeping with him. Rachel watched him from across the room as a bunch of girls she recognized from her classes threw themselves at him, and how he just chuckled. He looked up and they made eye contact for a brief second before Rachel immediately looked down at her empty glass. _

"_I believe I need more bubbly" Rachel said excusing herself, making her way over to the table promptly filled with alcohol. She heard a high-pitched giggle and tensed when she recognized it to be Cynthia. Cynthia wearing a short black dress flung her arm around Rachel's shoulder, smiling up at her, eyes squinty. _

"_Rachel what are you wearing?" she said in between laughs and Rachel rolled her eyes. _

"_A gown Cynthia, something I believe Barbra herself would approve of" Rachel said shrugging Cynthia off of her so she could pour herself a drink. _

"_Well people are laughing at you, and it's making me look bad" she whined. _

"_Pity" Rachel said turning on her heel, crashing into none other then Trent himself. He grabbed her elbow to help her steady herself, and slowly let go, smiling down at her. _

"_You're Rachel Berry right?" he asked, and she heard Cynthia gasp behind her._

"_Uhh yes- yeah I'm me," she said, cursing herself for getting so flustered. He chuckled at her and extended his hand out. _

"_I'm Trent, and I've heard amazing things about you", Rachel bit her lip to prevent herself from squealing while she shook his hand. _

"_I heard you are the next me actually" he said, and Rachel straightened up a little. _

"_Hopefully better" she smiled, glad to get her confidence back. _

"_Spunky, I like you" he said smiling. Just then her ring tone "Don't Stop Believing" which she had __reserved for New Directions Members rang. She turned red and quickly reached her hand into her clutch to silence it, she noticed it was Finn's number and rolled her eyes, he would call her at that exact moment. _

"_Sorry" she said, placing her phone on vibrate and back into her bag. _

"_I happen to have two tickets to 'How to Succeed' for tomorrow night's performance, and I think a girl of your caliber would really enjoy it. You should join me" It wasn't a question. Rachel went to answer him, but her phone started to vibrate again. _

"_You should get that" he said. _

"_Hold that thought" she said rushing out into the hallway, groaning as she fished her phone out o her clutch. _

"_Finn Hudson you better have an amazing excuse for interrupting and possibly ruining my future". _

"_Rachel, have you heard from Kurt tonight?" she heard the seriousness in Finn's voice. She thought for a moment, she hadn't heard from Kurt in a couple of day, which was normal for him. She knew Blaine was planning on breaking up with him, and she suddenly got really nervous._

"_No, is he ok"?_

"_I don't know Blaine says he's missing". _


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Hi Rachel" Kurt said quietly from his spot on Santana's bed where he had been flipping through an old Vogue he had already read three times. He watched her face play different ranges of emotions, from happiness, to confusion and suddenly anger as she turned to face Santana who was standing behind her in the hallway.

"So while I've been dealing with two extremely emotional and stubborn men, you've had him here this whole time?" she said, arms crossed fire seething out of her eyes.

"Not the whole time" Santana said slowly, "only for a day or two", her voice falters, and looks over Rachel's shoulder to Kurt, who looks less than amused.

"How did you find him? Or did he come to you?" Rachel seems slightly distressed at her last statement, wondering why Kurt didn't come to her.

"Oliver called Blaine, it's a long story" Santana answered.

"Blaine knows he is here?" Rachel says in disbelief. Rachel didn't like all this going behind her back, especially since she always considered Kurt to be her best friend, she didn't understand why he wasn't coming to her for help, why he never did. But Blaine, she had been nothing but there for him during the entire time, and she thought they were both as angry at him, but he was lying too.

"He's staying out of this" is all Santana says, and Rachel watches Kurt, she notices the way his eyes shine just by the mention of his name.

"Well Kurt you have two options, either you come with me, or I bring your family here but either way this has to stop" she crosses her arms and gives him her biggest bitch please face, and it makes Kurt crack a smile just slightly, before his face is serious again.

"I can't do that Rachel" he says, and his voice is so soft, so sad it makes Rachel want to run up and hug him, but he doesn't want that, that's why he is with Santana, it was all starting to make sense.

"Well I'll just have to call them" she says pulling out her cell phone.

"No point Rachel, I'm gone end of the week, no one is going to ever see me again" his voice is rough now, and Rachel notices Santana's eyebrows raise a little.

"You don't want to put them through the pain of losing me again when I don't want to be found". The words echo through Rachel, he doesn't want to be found. Out of all the scenarios Rachel and Blaine thought of what happened to him, this was the worst one, because this meant he didn't want to be with them anymore.

"What did we do that was so terrible?" the words are out of her mouth before she can stop herself.

"That's enough" Santana says trying to pull Rachel away, but she won't budge. She stares directly into Kurt's eyes as if she could see straight into his soul, but he was as unreadable as ever.

"Nothing" he says quietly. Santana is able to pull Rachel out of the hallway and to the front of the door.

"I'm working on this, I have a plan, just back off Jap", Santana says is a harsh whisper, Rachel flinches at her old nickname.

"I can't lie to Finn, I won't be able to look Burt and Carole in the eyes" Rachel says.

"Sure you can. You're an actress" Santana reminds her. Rachel turns on her heel and walks out the door letting it slam behind her. She walks down the narrow stairs, cursing Santana's stupid decision to live on the 5th floor of a building with no elevators. As her heels clunk down the stairs she can't shake Kurt's image out of her mind. He seemed older, harder, his air of innocence gone, but at the same time he looked exactly the same. Rachel was instantly reminded of the last time she had seen Kurt, a moment she often replayed in her mind.

_It was four nights before Kurt disappeared, Blaine had invited over Rachel for dinner for a "Kurt break" as he called them. Rachel had felt incredibly awkward about it since Blaine had discussed the idea of him breaking up with Kurt with her, but the look on Blaine's face was preventing her from saying no. _

_They ate on couches in the living room, since Blaine and Kurt's kitchen could barely sit two people comfortably, Kurt had cooked, the one thing he still seemed to do with a slight smile on his face. Rachel took up the entirety of the conversation, since she had no problem doing so, but Kurt seemed to have the entirety of his attention on his plate on his lap. Blaine rolled his eyes at her and she only smiled sympathetically. _

"_So Kurt, what's new in the world of Vogue?" Rachel asked. Kurt didn't even look up from his plate. _

"_Haven't read one in a while but I could imagine something fashion related" he said. Rachel raised an eyebrow, if Kurt had been religious, Vogue would have been his bible. How long had he not been __reading this, Rachel knew he was in a slump, but she didn't realize it was this bad, Blaine on the other hand obviously had. _

"_How can a fashion major not read Vogue?" Rachel questions. Kurt finally looks up from his plate, his usually welcoming blue eyes were more icy than usual._

"_I've been busy re-examining my life, I don't know if I want to go in that direction anymore" he says, and Rachel drops her fork, did he not want to major in fashion anymore? Blaine tries to smooth over Rachel's reaction with humor. _

"_You sound like one of those hippies you always make fun of" he points out, and Kurt directs his angry stare to him. _

"_Sorry that not everyone can have their whole life figured out like you two" Blair raises his hand in mock surrender. _

"_I know, you're right, I was just kidding" he ruffles Kurt's hair a little bit. "Chill out" he adds. Kurt get's up and dumps his plate in the sink. _

"_I have homework" he declared before walking into his room slamming the door behind him. Blaine slumped back into the couch and hit his head dramatically a couple of times. _

"_You're going to give yourself a concussion" she says dryly._

"_Do you get hospitalized for that, it'd be an excuse to get out of here for a couple of days" he says laughing, and Rachel only smiles sadly. _

"_Have you spoken to his dad, or Mercedes or Finn about this?" she asks, wincing when Finn's name leave her lips. _

"_I've spoken to his dad a few times yeah, but he thinks it's just a phase, I'm starting to think this is more like his new lifestyle" ._

_Rachel remembered walking back to her lonely apartment, for the first time thankful that her dad's insisted she live alone and not with a couple, because she couldn't deal with Kurt like Blaine has been. She thinks about things she could do to help him, she makes a note to call Mercedes, but there are plays, and lines to memorize, and books to read and in the blink of an eye Kurt's gone, and Rachel can't help but think that she could have done something, anything to help. _

Rachel hastily pulls her cell phone out as soon as she exits the subway. She didn't do anything to help last time, and she certainly wasn't going to let that happen this time around.

"Hey Mercedes, I need your help with something".

…

Blaine quietly got out of bed grabbing his boxers off the floor and slipping them on before sneaking out of the bedroom leaving Oliver asleep. Things with Oliver have been so off these past couple of days, and Blaine knew sleeping with him wasn't going to fix anything, but he felt guilty turning Oliver down. He grabbed his cell phone off the kitchen counter where he left it, turning it back on. While he was grabbing a drink of water his phone started to ring and quickly answered without looking to avoid waking up Oliver.

"Hello" he whispered.

"Hello to you too white boy" a very familiar voice said from the other line, brining a smile to Blaine's face.

"Mercedes. How the hell are you?" he asked leaning up against the counter. Ever since Kurt left, Mercedes and Blaine bonded even more, they were in constant contact the first couple of years, and were each other's life line so to speak. Although the contact had diminished throughout the years, Blaine always looked forward to hearing from her.

"I'm concerned with how you are, Rachel called me" Blaine bit his lip.

"I'm fine" he says.

"She knows he is staying with Santana, she found him today".

"Shit" he said running a hand through his hair.

"And that's why I called. I'm flying out in an hour".

"To New York?" he asks with wide eyes.

"Yes silly. Rachel doesn't want to stand around and not do something this time".

"I don't know Mercedes, I mean of course I want you to come out here, but Kurt's not the same".

"I can handle his stubborn ass. But I need a favor".

"What can I help you with?" he asks.

"Can I stay with you? Santana has Kurt, Rachel has the Hummels" Blaine scrunches his face up a little.

"I dunno Mercedes, Oliver has been really stressed lately, especially with this whole Kurt thing and-"

"It's fine I'll spring for a hotel".

"No, no, of course you can stay here" he says, regretting his words immediately.

"I knew you'd say that, I'll take a cab, should be there around 9am" he smiles.

"Can't wait".

…..

Kurt sat on Santana's couch, some mindless Soap Opera playing in the background; he couldn't believe he was saying this, but he couldn't wait for Santana and Britney to get home because he was so bored. Just then he heard keys rustling and the door opening, he smiled, maybe one of them got home early. He turns around and almost falls over when the one and only Noah Puckerman walked through the door. They made eye contact, and Noah dropped his bag on the ground.

"What the fuck"?

…...

Sorry for the cliff-hanger, but next chapter you'll know why Puck's back and why the hell he has a key to Santana and Britney's place. Also there will be a huge Mercedes confrontation, and more!


	6. Chapter 6

**So sorry for the delay, with school and everything else starting up again I got sidetracked. But I'm still here! The next part is pretty long so I hope it makes up for the delay.**

Chapter 6

"No I understand dude don't worry about it, I'll just crash with Santana. Let me know how everything goes" Puck said to Finn via the phone. He set his phone down on the tiny, dirty table of the Starbucks he was currently sitting in and nursed the rest of his coffee. He couldn't believe what was going on with Finn's family right now, he witnessed first hand how Kurt's disappearance rocked them all to the core, and he didn't want them to ever go through that again, even though it was turning out to be going in that direction. He thought a lot on the subway ride over to Santana's place, about High School, about how much he'd changed since then, how much everyone had changed since then, and wondered how much Kurt had changed. Though their relationship was certainly rocky in the beginning, they had grown to appreciate each other in the end. Puck had even deemed him ultimate bad-ass at the end of their senior year, because when you look at all the crap he had made it through, it made him more badass than Puck himself. He started to fumble through his bag looking for a specific set of keys; he smiled when he grabbed hold of a big red-lipped keychain, his girlfriend had been curious when she found those for the first time, but that was just Santana's humor. He could hear the hum of a television from inside but decided to use the key, knowing that Santana would just say that's why you have one. As he turned the key through the lock he prayed it wasn't Britney alone inside, he just wanted a beer, he wasn't in the mood for mindless awkward chatter.

He stepped through the threshold and saw short hair on the other side of the couch, which confused him because Santana liked people of the female variety, and Britney, he was still determined was either meant for Artie or Santana. The man on the couch turned around and Puck found himself staring into blue eyes, eyes that he had thrown in dumpsters, eyes that he saw cry numerous times, eyes that would roll at him whenever he made an inappropriate joke, and eyes that he thought he would never see again.

"What the fuck?" Puck said as he dropped his duffle bag on the ground. He had just gotten off the phone with Finn, who had only minutes ago said that Kurt was still missing, there was no way they found him in the span of forty minutes.

"Puck" Kurt said calmly, but Puck could sense the shock he was experiencing.

"What are you-"

"I'm pretty sure you are not at liberty to be asking the questions, seeing as I just got off the phone with your step-brother who still thinks your missing" Puck said crossing his arms.

"That is between me and Santana" Kurt said shortly.

"To hell it is" Puck said taking a step closer to Kurt, towering over him.

"Why are you hiding?" he asked Kurt.

"That is none of your business Noah" Kurt said taking a step back. Puck shrugged and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

"What are you doing?" Kurt asked his voice in a panic.

"Me and Finn have been past the whole going behind each other's backs thing since high school, so unless you give me a good reason, I'm calling his ass" Puck said. Kurt tried to make a grab for it, but Puck just held it over his head.

"Fine" Kurt said exasperated. "But Santana is not going to be happy with this, so if you're planning on staying here I'd make other arrangements". Puck frowned; Kurt still knew how to play dirty.

"Fine, I'll wait for Santana" Puck said going to the fridge grabbing the only beer inside and plopping down on the couch. Kurt sat on the exact opposite side, distancing himself as much as possible from Puck.

"So are you going to inform me why you're here, and why you have a key to Santana's place?" Kurt asked slightly amused.

"Oh right" Puck said taking another sip of his beer before putting it on the coffee table.

"I'm here visiting Beth". Kurt pursed his lips.

"Beth as in your-".

"My daughter" Puck says.

"I didn't realize you and Quinn were in contact with her" Kurt says.

"Quinn isn't. After spending a year in community school and doing fairly well I transferred to Ohio State, and ended up taking a class on Juvenile Delinquency. We learned a lot of it had to do with the environment you grew up in, and the amount of support a kid has growing up, and well I knew that from experience. I called Quinn and asked if she wanted to see Beth, she said it would be to hard but gave me Shelby's number. Shelby lets me visit once a month and spend some time with Beth. Sometimes I crash with Finn and Rachel cuz they have a fancy guest bedroom, but your family is currently occupying that, so when I can't crash there Santana lets me sleep on the couch, she gave me a key so I don't have to hold her up." Puck said.

"It's been really great being a part of her life, you know, like I can't even explain it, but it's incredible".

"I'm impressed Noah" Kurt said honestly. Puck smiled and sat back into the couch.

"You'd be surprised on how well my life has turned around. I work with troubled youth in Columbus, I just started dating a girl, but I think it's getting petty serious". Kurt was surprised on how open Puck was being with him, he couldn't help but smile.

"Do I know her"?

"You do, it's Lauren actually". Kurt coughed slightly and Puck chuckled.

"I thought you broke up?" Kurt said inquisitively.

"Oh we did. We stayed good friends though. And then she moved back to Ohio this year, she was out in LA doing some plus size modeling, but her mom got sick so she moved home to take care of her, and she's coaching wrestling at McKinley. We are in a different place".

"Enough about me, what have you been up to?" Puck asked, but Kurt just smiled slightly and tuned his attention back to the TV.

….

Mercedes hated coming to the city, in fact, she avoided it at all costs, which was why she barely saw her friends. The reasoning was simple and silly, she felt some sort of weird connection to Kurt here. She could see him walking besides her pointing at tacky outfits, eyes wide at the Broadway billboards of Time Square, and at peace in central park, just like he had been when they traveled their Junior Year.

She rolled her suitcase in the swanky lobby of Blaine's apartment. She had only been here once before, only because of a flight lay-over that led to a cancellation due to bad weather. She ended up spending the night, he had only just moved into this place, but that was a couple years ago. She watched the 10 button of the elevator light up and then take off towards the top of the building. She was nervous, for a lot of reasons. She was nervous to see Kurt, to see this angry side of him everyone had been telling her about, one she refuses to believe exists. She was nervous for Kurt's family, she was nervous she was going to fail, and she was nervous for Blaine. They understood each other better than most people expected, they had discussed this millions of times, what would they do if Kurt came back. Mercedes knew Blaine's answer to that question, and that was what worried her. The elevator door opened and she stepped outside, she smiled when she saw Blaine standing in the door way, arms crossed.

"Doorman called up" he explained before bringing her in for a huge hug, They embraced for what felt like hours, but was more like seconds before he ushered her inside.

"Oliver's at a study group" he explained before Mercedes could ask. She nodded and sat down on a stool in Blaine's kitchen, he slid over a coffee mug and sat across from her.

"How are you handling all of this?" she finally asked, he could avoid the question all he wanted over the phone, but this was the two of them in the same time zone, breathing in the same air, it was different.

"It's weird, to be honest. Like, I shouldn't care you know, but I do, maybe it's because we never got closure, but I feel responsible for him, even when he insists he doesn't want to see me. I know I should go storming off to Burt's and tell him everything, but I feel-I feel like that's betraying him and I can't". Mercedes nods and takes a long sip out of her mug, eyes closed.

"We all feel that way, that's why no one can go to Burt you know. We all feel responsible in some way for why he left, and I know I'm preaching to the choir, but we can't, even though I do. But when I see him, I'm not going to, or not let him know that I am" she says.

"Is Oliver pissed"?

"Increasingly so. At first he was encouraging me to help, to call Finn, he's the one that told us where Kurt was to begin with, but now, he's getting bitter about it, he hides it well, but I can tell".

"I don't blame him" Mercedes says with a shrugs, and Blaine frowns slightly.

"What's your master plan oh queen diva?" Blaine asks trying to lighten the mood.

"Wait for Rachel to get back from morning rehearsal, and then we are ambushing the joint. I deal with Diva meltdowns for a living, so this, will be a cakewalk" she says with a smile setting her mug down loudly. Blaine can tell she is more apprehensive then she let's on, but he doesn't press her on it.

"If anyone can get through to him it's you".

….

Santana doesn't hear a single word Britney said the entire walk back from their apartment. She is to overwhelmed, she knows the clock is ticking, that Kurt will be running off with his boyfriend once again, and she has a limited amount of time to persuade him otherwise. Why she put all this pressure on herself, she would never understand, but Santana always gets what she wants, so she could do this. She opened the door, and was instantly greeted with a duffle bag just sitting in her entryway. She was about to yell about picking up after themselves when she saw Puck sitting on the couch with Kurt, like they were best friends.

"Shit" she said. Puck got up, a devilish smile on his face.

"Busted princess" he says arms crossed.

"Give me a reason why I shouldn't call Finn right now" he adds, She sees Kurt's distressed face from behind Puck and fights the urge to just give up and run out of the room. Instead she grabs Puck by the arm and drags him into her bedroom slamming the door behind her. She sits down on the bed, knees to her chest head in her hands and takes a deep breath.

"Seriously what the hell is going on?" he asks much more calmly than before. He sits beside her gently. She tells him everything, from Britney coming home, to the hospital, to Rachel finding him. He rubs her back gently while she explains, just letting her vent, as odd as it sounded considering their history, Santana was the closest thing to a sister he would ever have.

"I don't understand why you just don't call Burt, it's his problem to deal with" Puck finally says when she finishes, she just shrugs.

"I know that won't fix anything, and I don't know why the fuck I care so much about Hummel, but I do. Maybe it's because I looked up to him so much in high school, you know with him being out and proud and whatever".

"I don't like seeing you so worked up" he says and Santana rolls her eyes.

"Oh shut up" she says shoving him playfully.

"This conversation never happened" she adds. They start to joke around a little, oblivious to the knock on the door, oblivious to Kurt telling Britney not to answer, but definitely not oblivious to the deep booming voice of Mercedes screaming,

"Oh hell to the no". Santana and Puck rush out of the bedroom to see Mercedes and Rachel standing in her living room, Kurt backed all the way into the corner trying to avoid eye contact.

"Berry's a bitch" Santana whispers to Puck before making her way closer to confrontation.

"Too many people in here, I'm going to have to call a fire marshal" Santana says as causally as she can despite the current situation.

"Nice to see you too Santana" Mercedes says.

"I never said I was glad to see you, I kind of need you all to get the hell out of here, Britney is claustrophobic" she shrugs. Britney smiles widely.

"It's Christmas already?" she asks, and everyone ignores her.

"They way I see it there are two options. One, Kurt and me go on a walk, or two, I just call Burt right now and have Puck hold Kurt down", Mercedes says with a frown. Puck opens his mouth to say he isn't involved in this, but Rachel gives him her a bitch face, and he quickly shuts it.

"No one is calling Burt" Santana says. "Kurt doesn't want to see us, so why the fuck do we care, can we all just pretend he's not here, like I've been doing", she lies.

"You know you are trying just as hard to get Kurt back to his family as we are Santana, you just aren't as obvious about it" Rachel points out, and Kurt glares at Santana from his corner of the room. Mercedes directs her attention to Kurt.

"Well"? Kurt watches Mercedes for a moment before taking a step forward towards the door.

"Let's just get this over with" he says with a frown walking out of the apartment, Mercedes hastily following behind him.

….

_Mercedes loved UCLA. She had never felt as comfortable in her skin as she did there. Her diva behavior was embraced, her fierce style and attitude didn't make her stick out like a sore thumb, it was the norm. Classes were difficult, her voice was one thing that didn't make her stick out either like in New Directions, and that wasn't necessarily a good thing, Mercedes was so happy with everything else, it didn't really bother her at the moment. _

_It was 11 o'clock on a Friday night, which meant that Mercedes and her friends, were getting ready to go out to their favorite club, where if they flirted enough with a certain bartender, he would give them the 21 and over bracelets. She checked herself out in her tiny dorm mirror to inspect her new ensemble, black leggings, royal blue tank and cute new heels, she was ready to head out on a ladies night, and hopefully visit her new boyfriend after. _

_When her phone started to ring, she assumed it was her friends telling her to get her ass downstairs, so when she see's Rachel Berry's name on the caller ID she was intrigued. It was two am in New York, and Rachel hadn't called her once since she moved, she wondered if she was about to receive her first Rachel Berry drunk dial. _

"_Rachel Berry, are you drunk dialing me right now?" Mercedes asks as she coats her lips with another layer of lip gloss. _

"_I wish", Rachel Berry's voice was low, and slightly scratchy. Mercedes lets the lip gloss tube fall from her hand and clatter onto the top of her dresser. _

"_What's wrong?" Mercedes asks. She can hear yelling coming from Rachel's end. A door slams and suddenly it's silent, she hears Rachel take a quivering breath. _

"_Mercedes has Kurt called you?" Mercedes chest tightens slightly._

"_We texted a little yesterday, why"?_

"_He's missing. He never came home, Blaine is freaking out, and Burt and Finn are on their way here" Rachel says all in one breath. _

"_Missing?" Mercedes voice quivers, was it possible to be kidnapped at the age of 18? She considered the fact that Kurt definitely looked younger than he was and shivered. _

"_Well, yes. But, he left his key behind, some of his stuff is missing, so we're starting to think he left on purpose. We were hoping maybe he ran away to you", Mercedes frowned. She knew Kurt wasn't having the best luck in New York so far, but she just thought he needed an adjustment period. _

"_Maybe he's on a plane on his way to me" Mercedes says tentatively _

"_One could only hope" Rachel says, before telling Mercedes she needed to go. Mercedes hangs up and sighs. Kurt is on his way to her, she's sure of it. Because after all they have been through, he wouldn't leave her. He would show up on her doorstep, they would watch Funny Girl a million times together, and maybe she would get him drunk. And then he would go back to New York, and suffer through till Winter Break. She doesn't go out that night, because she wants to be there when Kurt arrives. She waits day after day, holding out that Kurt was on his way, that he got side tracked, months later she finally told people she gave up on him. But that wasn't the truth. _

Mercedes walked a couple paces behind Kurt to start; he was obviously leading her to a small park in the distance. Mercedes studied him for moment, he seemed exactly the same at first glance, but she could notice the subtle changes the more she watched him. His arms had a filled out more, and she assumed the rest of his body hidden under the many scarves and weird shirt he was wearing had as well. He had a lot of worry lines on his face, around his eyes and forehead. Mercedes quickened her pace so she was walking right beside Kurt, and she could feel him tense up by her closeness.

"So" she says, waiting to see if Kurt will turn his attention to her, which he doesn't.

"You should be thanking me you know", Kurt turns to look at her, his expression amused.

"I know why you left", Kurt bites his lip and shakes his head.

"Oh Kurt give me more credit than that, I didn't tell anyone my theory, I'm surprised no one else figured it out, I let them make up these extravagant stories on why you left, even though I know the reason was quiet simple".

"So why do you think I left then?", he says, his voice flat, but she could hear the slight tone of curiosity.

"Do you remember when we were Sophomores and you wanted to sing that Wicked song, and you blew the note when those idiots called your dad?" Kurt looks confused, but slowly nods his head.

"Then there was that time you didn't tell anyone Karofsky kissed you, and instead of talking to us about how much he was harassing you, you ran away to Dalton".

"I don't understand where this is-".

"How about Senior year, when Blaine got slushied for the first time, and you blamed yourself, so you broke up with him for a day, until he serenaded you in glee club and you couldn't resist him". Kurt stops in front of an old tree by the entrance of the park and turns to face Mercedes.

"It's what you do Kurt, when life gets tough for you, you don't want to burden everyone else, and you push them away. I mean running away was a lot more rash than the other times, but they are all the same really when you think about it". Kurt crosses his arms, and Mercedes can tell that she was indeed correct.

"I knew you were miserable, we all did, and we all sit around saying how we wish we did this or we wish we did that, but the truth is, you wouldn't have let us help you anyway. You did what you had to do, but Kurt remember your father Burt. The man that bought you heels when you were 9, and stood up for you countless times, he does not deserve to be treated the way you are treating him".

"I don't care about anyone else but him, please see your father Kurt" she says it in a begging voice, it's more demanding.

"Mercedes you don't understand it's not that-"

"I don't need to understand, only your father does right now, he's all I care about. I know what he went through when you left Kurt, I know everyone is telling you that, but I figure the more you hear it the more it will sink in. You love your father more than anything on this entire planet". Kurt walks over to a bench and sits down, crossing his legs in his signature way that makes Mercedes chuckle slightly. She walks over and joins him.

"I can call him right now, tell him to meet us here and come alone and-"

"No" Kurt makes a move to get up but Mercedes grabs his arm.

"Kurt" she sighs.

"Can I have more time at least?" his voice small. Mercedes smiles slightly.

"Fine, but for everyday you don't see your dad, I'm making you go out and do something I know you don't want to do", Kurt rolls his eyes.

"You can't make me do anything" Kurt says, his voice slightly teasing.

"Do you know who I am? I am Mercedes Jones and I am a manager to probably every person on the radio right now, and bossing people around is my calling. You will do what I say" she smiles and nudges Kurt.

"We are all going to Karaoke tonight" she informs him, and Kurt's slight smile, twists into a scared frown.

….

"Seriously Oliver, it's not a big deal" Blaine says waving his arms and letting them fall loudly against his sides. Oliver is on the other side of the room, arms folded.

"Not a big deal that you forgot to tell me Mercedes was staying with us for God knows how long because lets face it if Kurt hasn't changed his mind yet he isn't going to. No Blaine not a big deal that this Kurt mess is finding itself once again in our apartment. That since his return we fight all the time?" He storms off into the bedroom. Blaine hears drawers starting to slam and he quickly follows him watching as Oliver throws clothes into a duffle bag.

"What are you doing?" Blaine asks.

"I don't want to fight, so I'm leaving" Oliver says without turning around.

"Fighting is healthy once and a while, you should know that you're a doctor" Blaine says, and Oliver turns around rolling his eyes.

"I have enough stress from these god damn tests, and working at the hospital to deal with your drama right now. Oh look I'm yelling, are you happy now?", he grabs his bag off the floor and moves to the vanity, grabbing bottles off the counter.

"Hey. I'm sorry. I'll just tell Mercedes she needs to stay somewhere else, I wasn't thinking." Blaine says desperately, Oliver turns around his expression softened.

"I'm going to stay with friends for a while. You obviously have some things to figure out, whether you want to admit it to yourself or not. I love you, and I'm not letting you go anytime soon, but while I'm gone, do whatever you have to do to get over Kurt, and call me when you do" Oliver zippers his bag up.

"Don't leave" Blaine says quietly. Oliver takes a step towards him and puts his hand on Blaine's shoulder, squeezing gently.

"You'll thank me for this later" he says before walking out the door. He's about to throw himself on his bed and bury himself under the covers when he hears Oliver say,

"Hello Mercedes". Blaine quickly leaves the bedroom to find Mercedes standing awkwardly in the living room watching Oliver leave the apartment.

"Is everything ok?" she asks as Oliver closes the door behind him, Blaine nods.

"That was a long time coming" Blaine says motioning to the door that Oliver had just exited from.

"How did everything go?" he asks, making his way closer to Mercedes.

"Not as well as anticipated, but I said my peace. He knows I'm not going to play around much longer and I think after tonight he will be begging to see Burt".

"And whys that?" Blaine asks, wondering what Mercedes did that no one else could.

"We are all going to a Karaoke bar tonight, Kurt included".

"We?" Blaine questions.

"Me, Santana, Britney, Rachel, and Puck's in town, and we were hoping you would come" her voice trails off at the end.

"That is not happening" Blaine says flat out. Blaine sits down on the couch and thinks for a second. Oliver wants him to move on and get closure. Tonight might be the perfect opportunity, especially with a few drinks in him, he won't hold back.

"On second thought, that sounds perfect".

**Next chapter will include a very interesting confrontation between Kurt and Blaine. We are getting closer to a possible Burt and Kurt reunion, as well as the return of Kurt's boyfriend, so stay tuned!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Kurt was sandwiched between Brittany and Santana; Puck in the rear as they walked into the Karaoke Bar Mercedes had demanded he make an appearance at. It was dark, with neon colored lights randomly flashing about, a Blonde girl on stage drunkenly massacring a Celine Dion song, the room reeked of alcohol and crushed dreams, and Kurt hated the place immediately. Santana could sense Kurt's hesitation, and scowled.

"You didn't have to come" she reminds him as they step further into bar, Puck surveying the room for their friends.

"And risk Mercedes telling my dad, no thank you", he said.

"There they are" Brittany said excitedly, rushing over to corner booth, he could see Mercedes and Rachel chatting with someone who was sitting with his back facing Kurt. As they approached closer he recognized a curly mop of hair and froze in his spot.

"What is he doing here?" Kurt yelled and Santana looked over to see whom he was talking about.

"Mercedes is staying with him, I guess she invited him" Santana said shrugging dragging him with her.

"They've already spotted you, can't back out now".

"Hey guys" Mercedes said, a satisfied smirk on her face as she held Kurt's gaze. Blaine turned around and found himself eye to eye with Kurt, he frowned trying to look at the floor but his eyes kept flickering back to him.

"Are you going to slide over and let us in Anderson" Santana asks, and Blaine chokes.

"I'm gonna-bar-I'm going to the bar" he announced as he rushed away from the table. Mercedes watched him flee with a worried expression. Puck, Brittany, and Santana wasted no time sliding into the booth, Kurt awkwardly sitting down at the edge.

"So who is singing first?" Rachel asked.

"Kurt how about you?" Mercedes asked.

"That wasn't part of the deal" Kurt reminded her. Mercedes frowned, but left him alone, him showing up was enough progress for now. Kurt ordered drink after drink, partially listening to his friend's conversation, but mostly swimming in his own thoughts. By the third drink, the group stared to get a little rowdy, Rachel preparing to take the mike next, so Kurt slipped away, and headed towards the bar.

He spotted Blaine leaning over on his elbow, stirring his drink obviously bored, ignoring the hustle and bustle around him. Kurt wasn't sure what exactly prompted him, he would later blame it on the alcohol, but he without hesitation plopped down on the empty stool next to him ordering a drink.

The sound of Kurt's voice broke Blaine out of his train of thought, and he jumped when he saw how close the man was to him. He gave Kurt a curious expression, who just shrugged.

"Rachel is getting ready to commandeer the stage, and I don't want to be there when she get's thrown out". Blaine continues to stare at Kurt, not entirely sure what he is supposed to say to him, and afraid of what he will say the second he opens his mouth; he never should have ordered that fifth drink.

"Where's your boyfriend?" Kurt asks, and that is the last straw for Blaine. He starts to laugh, madly laugh, and Kurt looks petrified.

"What gives you the right to ask me that?" Blaine slurs, and Kurt cocks an eyebrow.

"Excuse me"?

"He's not here because of you, because you had to come back and ruin everything. Why? If you didn't even want to see us, why come back, why did you have to ruin my life again?"

"I never wanted to be found. You opened that can of worms, really I should be blaming you right now, you're the reason I'm stuck here" Kurt spats.

"Like you aren't enjoying every minute of this. It's everything you love, mocking talentless people, and being with your friends" Blaine says with a bitter voice.

"I don't want to be here" Kurt stresses again.

"Who the fuck are you? You're friends have done nothing but pine for you, I have done nothing but worry about you, and you don't deserve any of it. I'm glad you left Kurt, because there is no way I would have wanted to trapped with the poison you have become. You don't want to be here? Fine, then leave, no one will notice, I won't tell them where you've went. You can just disappear, go, you can just go right out that fucking back door" Blaine slams his fist down into the counter for emphasis. Kurt is trying to hold back tears, sliding off the barstool.

"Fine" he say, and just like that Kurt is gone again.

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck" Blaine screams. He's not sure how much time has passed before he is chasing after Kurt, colliding into him the second he steps out the door.

"Jesus Christ don't leave" Blaine yells, throwing him against the wall before Kurt can try to make a run for it.

"Why shouldn't I? I'm just ruining everyone's lives like I always do, I always did". Blaine frowns, even with the amount of alcohol the words didn't sit right with him, did Kurt actually feel that way?

"What do you mean like you always did?" Blaine asks, his voice laced with compassion, Kurt panics trying to break himself from Blaine's grip but Blaine won't let go.

"Will you stop" Kurt begs banging his head on the concrete wall behind him "Stop caring, you were going to break up with me anyway, there's no need to care about me anymore" Kurt says, his eyes closed. Blaine had always figured Kurt had sensed the break-up, but actually hearing him say it out loud, made him feel extremely guilty.

"Is that why you left?" Blaine asks calmly, Kurt rolls his eyes in response.

"That's not the point. The point is that you don't need to be here right now, because if I had stayed you wouldn't be here anyway". Blaine cringes at the thought, truthfully, he had always believed that if Kurt had stayed, there was always a possibility that they would have found each other again, but Blaine figured now wasn't the time to bring that up.

"Well I'm here now, so get over it, now get back inside because whether you like it or not, I'm not letting you run off", Blaine wasn't sure when he decided to be nice to Kurt again, he was supposed to be getting things off his chest not making sure he was ok. Kurt actually listened, storming back into the bar, taking his seat at the counter demanding another round and to keep them coming. Blaine went back to the booth filled with his friends, Mercedes giving him suspicious eyes. Eventually Santana goes to sit with Kurt at the bar, to make sure he won't go anywhere again. The rest of the night goes by in a blur, Blaine barely listening to anyone's conversations, Kurt not leaving his spot from the bar. Eventually Blaine stands about to announce his departure when Santana rushes over to them.

"Kurt has had way to much to drink, and there is no way I'll be able to get him back to my apartment, the stairs alone", she sighs, everyone at the table look to Blaine, who has the closest apartment.

"He'll have to come with Mercedes and me then" he says, frowning. They drag Kurt into a cab, while he mutters incoherently to anyone that is in his eye site. Eventually they are able to get him inside, sandwiched in between Mercedes and Blaine.

"Cole doesn't allow me to drink" Kurt announced five minutes into the ride. Both Blaine and Mercedes look at each other, Mercedes looks less than thrilled.

"What else doesn't he let you do Kurt?" she asks.

"Everything" he mumbles, and Mercedes immediately tenses, opening up her mouth but Blaine shakes his head, now was not the time.

They manage to get him into Blaine's apartment, Blaine practically throws him on the couch, Mercedes grabs an extra blanket and covers Kurt with it, whom had fallen asleep the second his head hit the pillow.

Blaine can't help but watch Kurt sleep, his face is pink, the color that Blaine used to adore, his mouth slightly open and turned up in a relaxed smile, and his hair disheveled. Sleeping, he was exactly like the Kurt he remembered, the Kurt he fell in love with at the age of 16. Mercedes cleared her throat from behind him, waking him up from his thoughts, he turned around and Mercedes flashed him a knowing smile.

"Night Blaine" she said quietly, leaving Blaine alone to continue watching Kurt. He was furious with Kurt, deservingly so, yet he still had to fight his urge to curl up beside Kurt, and hold him all night. Blaine had a feeling Kurt has gone through a lot the past five years, and he hoped that maybe Kurt would open up to someone, and if that person happed to be him, well he'd be ok with that. Blaine realized how unbelievably creepy he was being, watching Kurt sleep, so with reluctance he shut the lights off, and left Kurt to what he hoped was peaceful dreams.

…..

Kurt hadn't been this hung over since his short stint at F.I.T., his past life, as he liked to call it. He was afraid to open his eyes, he had no clue where he possibly could be, he barely remembered anything past his fight with Blaine, and even that was a little hazy. He hesitantly opened one eye, but the room started spinning and he shut it instantly.

"Rough night?" a voice from above him asks, and he winces and groans as the voice echoes in his brain, causing his head to throb. Once he felt a little steadier he slowly opened his eyes, and once they adjust to the light, he notices Oliver standing above him, an amused expression on his face. Kurt sits up the room starting to spin again, realizing that he must be at Blaine's apartment, on Blaine's couch.

"Apparently" Kurt says, his voice deeper and rougher then usual.

"How's your finger?" Oliver asks, and Kurt looks down at his bandaged finger and holds it up.

"Still there", Kurt remarks, rubbing his temple.

"Why are you on my couch?" Oliver asks, his voice not the least bit friendly.

"I wish I knew" Kurt says honestly, and as if on cue Blaine walked into the room wearing nothing but boxers, running a hand through his messy curls.

"Oliver, you came home" Blaine exclaimed, his voice still filled with sleep, and it made Kurt swoon slightly.

"I forgot a book" he says shortly walking over to a bookshelf in the corner of the room, grabbing a large intimidating text book from it, Kurt notices Blaine looks disappointed.

"Well while your here, do you want to go grab some breakfast?" Blaine asks hopefully.

"It's rude to leave your guests alone" Oliver says trying to walk back to the door.

"Oliver, you could have borrowed anyone's book, I know that's not the only reason you came".

"You're right. Maybe I was going to sneak in and surprise you with some breakfast in bed to apologize for over-reacting, but it looks like I wasn't over-reacting in the least" Oliver motions towards Kurt who is still on the couch, battling his hangover. Mercedes must have heard the ruckus because she was now out in the hallway nervously watching them.

"This is nothing, he had to much to drink, so he slept on the couch, end of story", Blaine says, turning to Kurt hoping maybe he would vouch for him, but Kurt looks slightly intimidated.

"I was with them the whole time" Mercedes chimes in from her spot, and Oliver laughs.

"Whatever" Oliver says going to open the door.

"Please don't do this" Blaine says his voice on the verge of pathetic. Oliver turns around a sad expression on his face.

"I'm not doing anything" and then he's out of the apartment as quickly as possible.

"Sorry" Kurt says quietly getting up to ask where the bathroom was. Blaine points towards a door down the hall and Kurt quietly disappears behind it.

"That was all my fault" Mercedes says. "I'm going to get Kurt out of here, and then I'm checking in a hotel, Oliver is right, you never should have been dragged into this".

"No, no, I mean maybe Kurt shouldn't be here, but you didn't do anything" he stresses.

"I would have wanted to help anyway" he adds, and the bathroom door opens and Kurt steps out, looking much more put together.

"Sorry about last night-And this morning" Kurt says quietly.

"Don't worry about it, you hungry?" Blaine asks stepping into his room to throw on sweat pants and a sweatshirt.

"Actually, I was hoping Mercedes could take me back to Santana's place so I could get more presentable" he takes a deep breath, "I think it's time I see my dad". Blaine and Mercedes both look to each other with big smiles on their faces.

"Let me go get dressed" Mercedes says immediately disappearing into her room. Blaine and Kurt stand awkwardly in the hall, and Blaine can't help but chuckle at the silence.

"I-Uh-At least let me make you some toast, it'll help the hangover" Blaine insists making his way to the kitchen. Kurt follows him sitting down at the counter.

"I'm really sorry about last night Blaine" Kurt says breaking the silence, and Blaine knows he isn't referring to his drunkenness.

"You didn't say anything that wasn't true" Blaine says pushing the button on the toaster down and spinning around to face Kurt.

"Can I ask you something?" he says, and Kurt looks curiously at him.

"Sure" he says slowly.

"I was just-What have you been doing these past five years?" Blaine says, and there's a pregnant pause.

"Oh" Kurt finally says.

"Sorry, it's none of my business I-"

"It's fine. Well, if you haven't figured out already I went to London" Blaine nods, urging Kurt to continue.

"I uh-stayed in a hostel for a while, I ran into Cole in a store, he hired me as his assistant on the spot, and I moved in with him a couple of days later". Blaine immediately regrets asking Kurt, he had started dating Cole a couple of weeks after leaving? While Blaine was frantically trying to figure out where he was, he was shaking up with that jerk.

"You started dating so soon?" Blaine asks trying to mask the hurt in his voice.

"Casually, for a while, officially after a year" Kurt says.

"Casually? As in free to see other people?" Blaine asks.

"Yeah" Kurt says unconvincingly.

"You were free to see other people, or just him?" Blaine pesters, his voice on the verge of angry, Kurt looks down and refuses to answer. The toast pops up, the sound making both men jump. Blaine quickly places the pieces on a plate and shoves it in front of him.

"Why do you let him push you around?" Blaine asks, before Kurt has a chance to answer, Mercedes emerges from her room.

"Ready to go?" she asks, oblivious to the tension in the room. Kurt nods his head while getting up, and freezes when something starts to ring in his pocket. He slowly takes a phone out of his pocket, and stares down at it scared; Blaine realizes there's only one person that would call him. Before he has the chance to beg Kurt not to answer, Kurt is saying a meek hello into his phone.

"Where the fuck are you?" Cole's voice, angry seeps into Kurt's ear and he flinches.

"Are you back already?" Kurt asks.

"I felt bad for leaving you alone, but you seem to be doing just fine without me, considering your not here, plus I found out you haven't checked into the office once. What the hell are you doing"?

"I've been catching up with some old friends and-".

"Well how bloody convenient for you, but parties over we have shit to get done". Kurt takes a deep breath and lets out a slow exhale.

"I'll be right there" he says and Cole hangs up the phone immediately. Kurt turns back around to face his friends, and see's their distressed faces.

"Kurt don't do this" Mercedes says her eyes wide.

"I have to-he's my-I have to go" Kurt says making his way towards the door. Blaine without thinking grabs Kurt's wrist and spins him around.

"You are better then that Kurt, no matter what you've been lead to believe, you deserve the best, and he's not it".

"You don't understand, I need to go. I'm sorry" and he's out the door before either of them can say another word. They could have chased after him, but they knew better then to try to fight a determined Kurt. Eventually Blaine remembers Mercedes is still there, and he turns around to see her furiously texting on her phone.

"What are you doing?" he asks quietly, and she looks up, the most serious expression he has ever seen her wear.

"We've got to tell Burt" she says, and Blaine nods silently, Kurt left them with no other choice.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

When Kurt was 17 years old, he planned his whole life out. He would go to F.I.T., move in with the love of his life, have an internship with Vogue, graduate with honors, start working for an up and coming designer, get married to the love of his life aka Blaine, start his own line, and eventually adopt a couple of kids. Within the first month of school, it was clear his plan was never going to pan out, which is why he left it, and everyone behind when he went to London. Being back in New York was basically a slap in the face, a constant reminder that nothing he wanted worked out. But halfway through his stay with Santana, he caught himself imagining himself that way again. Sure some things were different, like there was no way him and Blaine would end up together again with Oliver in the picture, and he was probably to old for an Vogue internship, but he started thinking that maybe deep down, he could go back to school again, and attempt to get his life back on track. But then Cole called, snapping him out of his pathetic daydream, reminding him where he truly belonged.

Life with Cole wasn't as terrible as his friends were assuming it was. He was normally nice, spoiled Kurt rotten with expensive skin care products, clothes, and parties. He gave Kurt a job when no else wanted him, and he wanted Kurt when no one else did. He didn't necessarily have a lot of confidence in Kurt, but it wasn't like he gave him any reason to. He would be ok with Cole, he wouldn't get the marriage, or the babies, or his own fashion line with him, but he would have a job, a fairly interesting job, and a life he wouldn't be able to afford on his own. And Cole loved Kurt, in his own way.

When he opened the door to his apartment Cole was sitting on the couch, fiddling with his IPhone, he looked up when the door opened, his expression wasn't angry, but he didn't seem thrilled either.

"There you are" he said, his accent thicker, probably from spending the last couple of days in London. He got up from the couch and brought Kurt in for a rough kiss, pulling away quickly.

"We have so much to get done, but I'm to jet-lagged to do anything, so it'll all have to wait for tomorrow" he said going back to lay down on the couch.

"Do you want anything?" Kurt asks hanging his jacket on the hook.

"Just you please" Cole says, making his voice a little a deeper, and Kurt blushes, knowing exactly what he meant. He slowly made his way to the couch, crawling on top of Cole, straddling his hips. Cole instantly brings his lips to Kurt's wasting no time swiping his tongue across Kurt's bottom lip and grabbing his hips roughly. Kurt pulls away and Cole groans.

"Aren't you going to ask me where I've been?" Kurt asks breathlessly. Cole rolls his eyes and latches his lips to Kurt's neck sucking and biting his way along.

"You already told me on the phone" he says into Kurt's neck. He tries to move back to Kurt's lips but he leans away again.

"And you aren't at least a little bit curious?" Kurt asks and Cole rolls his eyes.

"Since when do you ask questions?" he says, sounding a little bit annoyed.

"I just-you sounded upset on the phone" Kurt says timidly.

"Because I thought you went missing or something, wouldn't be the first time you ran away", he says and Kurt raises his eyebrows.

"Excuse me?" Kurt had never actually told Cole anything from his past, he didn't think he knew anything.

"Come on Kurt, you don't think I would have let some stranger just move in with me do you? I did a little research on you when you started working for me. I knew your friends and family were looking for you, and I know you had a boyfriend who had a reward out for any information on you. But I figured there was a reason you didn't want to be found, so I didn't really care", Cole shrugged.

"Blaine did what?" Kurt asked flabbergasted, he had no clue.

"Blaine? Wasn't that the guy who came to our fashion show, with your giant step-brother?" Cole asked, intrigued now.

"Uh yeah" Kurt said hesitantly.

"Oh" was all Cole said before leaning back in for a kiss. Kurt obliged him this time, afraid to learn what else Cole could know about him. Just as things were about to get hot and heavy, there was a knock on the door. Cole groaned leaning his head on the arm of the couch, and there was another knock. Cole moved Kurt over to get up adjusting himself as he went to the door; he looked through the peep-hole and chuckled.

"Did you call a handy man?" he asks turning back to around to Kurt.

"No, why?" Kurt said, looking confused.

"There's a man at our door wearing flannel and a baseball hat" he said amused. Realization hit Kurt, he went to yell don't answer it, but it was too late.

"Where the hell is my son"?

….

"So you're telling me you three knew where he was all this time?" Burt said sitting on the couch beside Carole and Finn, both looked as upset as he did. He looked up at Rachel, Mercedes and Blaine, they looked remorseful, but Burt could give a rat's ass. He was furious; beyond furious, so furious that if Carole could hear how loudly his heart was pounding she would make him go sit quietly in a corner to calm down. He thought he could trust these three, the three that loved his son almost as much as he did, and they had basically been aiding and abiding him.

"Rachel couldn't have known" Finn said, but the look on Rachel's face explained it all, she most certainly did.

"I'm sorry Finn" she said her voice laced with tears.

"What you have to understand", Blaine started, looking directly into Burt's eyes. "Is that when we saw Kurt, he was so angry. When Oliver told me he was at the hospital I should have called you, but I was afraid that would just push him away. So I called Santana-"

"Santana knew too?" Finn said, his voice slightly angry.

"He was staying with her" Mercedes said reluctantly.

"So is Puck, does that mean he knew too?" Finn asked, Mercedes nodded her head slowly.

"I cannot believe this" Finn said pounding his fist into coffee table, Carole grabbed Finn's wrist silently.

"We thought we could handle it, Santana and me. But then Rachel accidently found out and she called Mercedes. Kurt was going to come see you today Burt, but then his stupid boyfriend called and he went running", Blaine said with a frown.

"So we don't know where he is again?" Burt asked, trying to control is anger.

"Well" Mercedes spoke up, "I called Santana, and Britney knows where he lives, she brought him to get some of his stuff".

"Are we really going to trust Britney?" Finn asked not convinced.

"She is the one who found Kurt to begin with", Carole pointed out and Burt grumbled.

"Fine call Santana, tell her to meet me here with Britney, they can lead the way, and then they are leaving, you all have done enough, it's my turn to speak to my son, alone" Burt said before walking out of the room. As he sat on the bed that had been his the past week, he could pick up bits and pieces of conversations, mostly just Blaine and Rachel apologizing, and Finn not taking it, good for him. He was pretty damn furious with these kids. Eventually, Carole knocked on the door, a sweet smile on her face.

"Santana and Britney are downstairs" she said, sitting down next to Burt.

"Ok" he said attempting to stand before Carole pulled him back down.

"Are you going to be ok alone? Do you want me to come, or Finn?", she sounded concerned.

"I've got to do this on my own", he notices his wife narrow her eyes, "I'll be fine" he assures her kissing her on the forehead and walking out of the room. He ignored the others still gathered in the living room, but notices Blaine's remorseful expression. He would deal with him later.

The walk with Britney and Santana was long, or at least it felt long, he guesses that's what it's supposed to feel like when you haven't seen your son for five years. Santana fills him in on what she's learned, that he seemed bitter, the boyfriend basically controlled him, and he wasn't very motivated. These things didn't sound like his son. As a father, he blamed himself for everything that happened.

He thought about his son, the boy who asked for a pair of sensible heels at the age of five. The boy whose hand he held when he didn't know what to say to a kid who just lost his mother. A boy who he told would have to continue being lonely until he found a boy like himself. He thought about how his son transformed before his eyes when he met said boy. He remembered the excitement in his eyes when he was finally able to graduate, and how excited he was to leave Ohio behind and take the world by storm. But he didn't. Burt knew his son was unhappy, but that wasn't uncommon for Freshman in college. He was disappointed when Kurt failed his midterms, but he figured Kurt needed time to adjust, coming from a small town in Ohio didn't prepare him for this. The next thing he knew Finn was waking him up at some ungodly hour saying that Blaine said Kurt never came home, and he was missing. When someone tells you your kid is missing, your world stops. Burt couldn't imagine never seeing his son again, the only thing that linked him to his late wife, his own flesh and blood, his world. He played brave in front of everyone, staying optimistic, but inside he was dying a little. He only ever let Carole see him crack twice, and it was obvious she didn't know what to say, she was hurting almost as much. He still had Finn and Carole, but it wasn't the same. They weren't his kid who when hearing his dad cry himself to sleep when he was 7, came to protect him from the monsters. He missed his son desperately, and there was no way he was going to allow him to slip through his fingers again.

He was fairly aware where he was when Britney and Santana stopped in front of a posh looking building. His short time spent in New York taught him that they were in a very expensive area.

"He was on the tenth floor" Britney said, and Burt looked up at the top of the building.

"Thanks", he said turning to go inside.

"Mr. Hummel" he heard Britney call and he slowly turned around.

"What"?

"Can you remind Kurt he is a unicorn, I didn't get to tell him that before he left" her voice was so sincere and honest, it made him smile a little.

"Sure" he said, and he laughed at the way Britney's face lit up when she smiled.

He was easily able to get past the front desk, they assumed he was a plumber or a carpenter. Burt laughed at how dumb the man was, considering the people living in the building were paying a hell of a lot for security.

When he stepped in front of his son's door he paused for a moment. This was what he had been waiting for, he had to be behind that door, or Burt was pretty sure he would crumple up and die. He knocked, and when he heard no noise he knocked again. He knocked until he heard a muffled voice from the other side of the door. The door swung open and Burt was face to face with a tall dark haired man dressed to the nines.

"Can I help you with something?" the man asked in a British accent, and ok Burt hated him already.

"Yeah, where the hell is my son?" he said trying to push into the apartment.

"Excuse me?" the man said but Burt was stronger, and succeeded, pushing through and coming face to face with his son.

….

"_Burt, Kurt is on the phone" Carole called to him. He slowly made his way downstairs, grabbing the house phone out of her hands and stepped into the living room, making sure he was comfortable. _

"_Hey kiddo" he said, the words causing him to smile. _

"_Hi dad", Kurt said in a low voice, causing Burt to raise his eyebrows. _

"_Everything ok over there?" he asked his son. _

"_No" Kurt said dramatically sighing. _

"_I'm not a mind reader" Burt says flatly._

"_I failed my midterms" Kurt said, and Burt could tell he was nervous. _

"_Oh, how did you manage that?" he asked, trying not to make Kurt feel any worse then he was probably already feeling. _

"_I guess I'm not good enough". Burt frowned, he never wanted to hear any kid of his talk that way. _

"_Whoa, you know that's not true, you just have to try a little harder next time. It's just mid terms, things will get better" he tried to assured his son. _

"_Alright" Kurt said and Burt knew he was still upset. _

"_How's Blaine?" he asked, surprised to hear his son sigh again. _

"_Good I guess, we don't talk much" he said._

"_Don't you boys live together?" Burt asked confused. _

"_We've been busy" Kurt says harshly. _

"_Ok, but don't forget that relationships take work too"._

"_Dad can we not talk about relationships. I have to go anyway"._

"_Ok, take care kiddo"._

"_Bye dad". Burt made his way back into the kitchen to hang the phone back on the hook and Carole turned around, a concerned look on her face. _

"_Everything ok? He didn't sound so good". _

"_He's still trying to adjust I guess", Burt shrugs. "I just wish I could help him somehow". Carole walks up to Burt and wraps her arms around him. _

"_It's all part of growing up, he's got to figure stuff out on his own now. But he has Blaine, and Rachel, he's a smart kid, everything is going to fine". _

"_He sounds so miserable, and I wouldn't be so sure about Blaine, they are apparently having problems". Carole made a sympathetic noise and patted Burt on the head._

"_Everything's going to be ok", she assured him again, and Burt hummed in contentment, trusting his wife completely. _

…

"Kurt" Burt said, the words felt strange against his lips. Kurt was frozen in his spot. His son looked older, his baby face was completely gone, muscles more defined, he was possibly taller. His hair was still perfectly styled and his wardrobe immaculate, and Burt was relieved at least some things hadn't changed.

"I didn't know you were in town, I'm Cole", the British man said from behind him, and Burt chuckled at this man's fake politeness, according to Finn he was the exact opposite when they had met.

"How could you? I haven't spoken to my son in five years", Burt says, and Cole looks uncomfortable, he's not sure what to say.

"Dad", Kurt finally says, and he sounds annoyed, Burt turns his attention back to his son, the reason he was there.

"We need to talk" Burt says, "Alone", he looks at Cole for emphasis.

"No offense sir but anything you say in front of your son you can say in front of me". Burt turns on his heel narrowing his eyes at Cole, he doesn't back off.

"It's fine" Kurt says, his voice small, and Cole flashes him an annoyed look.

"Whatever", Cole shrugs, "I'll just leave my own apartment". He grabs some things off of a table by the door. "I'll be back in an hour", he is obviously pissed now, and if you missed the tone in his voice, the slamming door is a less than subtle reminder. Burt looks back at his son, and his heart drops when he see's how nervous his son is. He remembered Santana saying that she used a lot of tough love on him. Burt could do that, hell he had done that throughout his son's life.

"Well aren't you going to invite your old man to sit down? Or did you lose your manners these past five years"? Kurt gulps, moving aside while motioning for his dad to sit down, taking a seat in the chair on the opposite side of the room. Burt swallowed, he could do this.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Blaine knew he was a coward, leaving Finn's apartment as soon as Burt left. But he figured when Burt got back, with or without Kurt, they were going to need family time, and he wasn't apart of that anymore. His apartment was still empty, much to his dismay and he sighed falling into the couch cushions.

It was all over now, Burt and Kurt were reunited, Mercedes would probably leave soon, and the connection everyone felt due to Kurt's absence would soon disappear. He would soon be alone. No, he reminded himself, he had Oliver, he was lucky to have Oliver, sweet, caring, gorgeous Oliver. Now they could put all this Kurt stuff behind them and get back to how things used to be. He grabs his cell out of his pocket, swallows his pride and calls him, letting out a noise of disappointment when it goes to voicemail.

"Hey this is Oliver, obviously", he let's out a breathy giggle. "I'm not around right now, so leave me a message, I'll get back to you at some point". The automated beeps sounds and Blaine takes a deep breath.

"Hey, baby, it's me." A beat. "I told Kurt's dad everything, he's probably with him now. So, Mercedes will probably leave soon, and everything will get back to normal. Well it will when you come home. I miss you, so, come home when you can. I want to take you out to dinner, move past this stupid week. I-I- lov- just come home ok?" Blaine disconnects the call.

…

"Do you think I did the right thing?" Santana asks Brittany from across the table of the restaurant they were currently at, avoiding going back to Rachel's apartment where everyone was expecting them to show.

"What do you mean San"?

"I just-with Kurt, I have a feeling everyone is super pissed at me. I hope I didn't mess everything up with him and his family" Santana slouches down in her chair, Brittany watches her for a moment.

"I think it made Kurt happy to be with us. I caught him humming, he was smiling more. So yeah I think you did the right thing. And everything's going to be ok, cuz you reminded him what it felt like to be happy, and he isn't going to want to go back to being miserable and boring.", Santana smiles, she seriously had the best friend in the entire world.

"Yeah, I think you're right" she takes a bite of her sandwich, feeling relieved. At least she made Kurt happy even if it was for a little while, and that was better then nothing.

….

His dad was old. Kurt had no idea that five years could make such a difference, but in Burt's case it sure did. Kurt felt guilty looking at his father, anything could have happened in five years, he could have lost his father for good, his father could have needed something, and Kurt had been gone.

"Do you need anything to drink, Finn mentioned you weren't in the greatest health" Kurt said cutting into the silence.

"Finn over exaggerates, I'm fine, I've learned to take care of myself", the statement is a slap across Kurt's face. "So that was your boyfriend"?

"Yeah" Kurt says.

"How long have you been together?" he questions.

"Five years" Kurt slightly lies, his father doesn't need to know the complexity of his and Cole's relationship, all he needed right now was for his dad to launch into a you matter speech. Burt let's out a low whistle.

"That's how long you've been gone. What, did you meet him and run off with him or something"? Kurt shakes his head.

"So, I'll cut to the chase, why'd you leave"?

"I needed a change of scenery" Kurt says dryly.

"If that's the case why didn't you just tell me?" Burt asks, not buying it.

"You wouldn't have let me" Kurt says, Burt chuckles.

"Kurt you were an adult, I couldn't have stopped you. And I know you know that, so what's the real reason"? Kurt is silent.

"Fine. New question, why did you come back to New York?"

"Cole's line is going international, and his new office is here" Kurt says quickly.

"Do you help him design stuff?" Burt asks, already knowing the answer.

"I'm his assistant" Kurt says shortly, he is starting to look uncomfortable.

"I didn't know that was something you were interested in", Kurt just shrugs.

"Ready to tell me why you left?" Burt asks, his patience never ending, he did raise Kurt after all.

"No", Kurt says, starting to get angry.

"No rush. Just to let you know, I've gone too long with you not in my life, so if you expect me just to walk away, well you've gotten incredibly stupid. I'll stay in the city for as long as I need to, whatever it takes" Burt says seriously.

"And if I don't want you around?" Kurt asks. Burt bites his tongue, digesting the sentence before speaking.

"I don't really care". Burt get's up from the couch and takes a piece of paper out of his pocket placing it on the coffee table.

"That's my cell, and Rachel's address. Stop by when your ready, and I'll be back within the next couple of days regardless". Burt walks towards the door without looking at Kurt's expression. 'Tough love', the words torturing him. He turns back around to look at his son.

"It kills me to say this to you son, but I'm glad your mom's not around to see you right now" Burt walks out the door, not allowing himself to break down in front of his son. Kurt on the other hand crashes down to the floor, curls up into a ball, and allows himself to cry, for what was the first time in what felt like forever.

….

Blaine's apartment smelt like Lysol and Pledge, a result of the first thorough cleaning job he had ever done. He was trying to distract himself from thinking about how Kurt and Burt were doing, or when Oliver was going to come home. He heard his phone start to ring in the other room and he gladly left his spot from scrubbing the bathroom counter to answer it, smiling when he see's it's Wes, a very welcome distraction.

"Wesley, how's Chicago?" Blaine asks, his voice as cheerful as he could make it.

"Probably not as exciting as New York" Wes counters.

"Hi" Blaine says plopping down on the couch.

"Hello Mr. Blaine Warbler, long time no talk".

"Seriously, to what do I owe the honor"?

"I have news actually" Wes says, and Blaine sits up a little from his spot.

"Oh"?

"I proposed to Bethany, and she said yes" Blaine smiles.

"That's great Wes, congrats, seriously".

"Naturally you'll be a groomsmen. Bethany has gone into full Bridezilla mode, and it's only been a week, she wants a spring wedding".

"Of this year? Wes, did you knock her up"?

"No", Wes says laughing, "We just don't want to wait. So now Oliver and you have no excuse, you have to come out and visit Chicago after all".

"Looks like it", Blaine's voice has lost the enthusiasm from before.

"How is Oliver? He a doctor yet?" Blaine frowns slightly.

"Almost". Wes notices the change in Blaine's tone.

"Everything ok with you two"? Blaine let's out a long breath.

"Kurt's back", is all he says. Wes doesn't say anything at first.

"Wow, That's wow. When you say back, do you mean back back"?

"Uh, well kind of. He wants nothing to do with us, well he didn't, now he might, I'm not sure. He's here with a boyfriend, he's only just seeing his dad for the first time today".

"How long has he been back"?

"About a week".

"That long? What took his dad so long"? Blaine pauses for a moment. "Blaine, tell me you told Burt he was back".

"The point is that he knows now. Anyway, since Kurt, things have been really tense with Oliver, and I can't help but think of-certain things".

"Things like?" Wes questions, not letting Blaine off the hook that easily.

"What I would be like now if Kurt had stayed". Wes let's out a short breath.

"Well, how do you imagine it? Your possible life if Kurt had stayed, but let me remind you that he didn't".

"I see it two ways. We'd either be friends, or we'd be together. That sounds really bad, doesn't it".

"No, curiosity is healthy. I just- Blaine. Are you having second thoughts about Oliver now that Kurt's back"?

"No. Yes. Maybe. Shit" Blaine says rubbing his forehead.

"Ok calm down. It's probably normal to have second thoughts, you've obviously been through a lot lately".

"But?" Blaine asks, knowing Wes wasn't finished.

"You know I like Oliver, I practically set you two up. But sometimes I worry-that maybe you aren't exactly yourself with him. For instance, the music thing, I know you quit that long before you met Oliver, but I figured once you were happy again maybe you'd pick it up again for fun, and you obviously haven't. Maybe, Kurt being back reminds you of your old self, and maybe you miss your old self more than you realize". Blaine digests that statement.

"I've really changed that much"?

"Well, your usually fine on the phone like you are right now, I mean I haven't seen you in a while. But, sometimes I can tell when Oliver is listening to our conversation, because you're much more reserved".

"I see".

"I'm sorry Blaine, I probably just made things more confusing" Wes says laughing quietly.

"Yeah, but it's ok, it's all true information. I'm going to go try and digest our conversation. But thanks Wes".

"Sure, Blaine don't do anything rash alright. Call me before you do anything".

"Yeah, ok sure. Bye Wes".

…..

Burt allowed himself to take his time walking back to Finn's apartment, he wanted to seem, calm, cool and collected when he walked though the door.

He's not surprised that Blaine isn't there when he gets back. He has a feeling Blaine is a lot more effected by Kurt's return than he wants to let on, he seems conflicted, troubled, confused. Burt wasn't sure how he felt about Blaine right now. Sure he'd be better for Kurt than that British guy could ever be, but Blaine didn't help his son out when he needed it the most, when he was practically the only one who could. He had also been a child at that point Burt reminded himself, but still, he wasn't sure if he could count that as an excuse.

He couldn't miss the look on Finn and Carole's face when he walked in alone, and he gave them a reassuring smile, even if he wasn't reassured himself.

"I think he'll come around" Burt said, Finn didn't look impressed.

"Maybe I should go talk to him, brother to brother" he said.

"No, I said some things that probably upset him, so give him some space". Carole seemed concerned by that statement, but she patted Finn on the knee and went to help Rachel in the kitchen. Mercedes was sitting alone in a corner, lost in thought and Burt went over to sit with her. She smiled sweetly at him, but her eyes were distant.

"I remember when Kurt told me he was gay" she said and Burt looked up at her in surprise.

"He was so scared, and helpless. I hadn't seen him like that until now. I think he's scared" she looks down at her lap.

"Scared of what?" he asked.

"Disappointing us, mostly you", Burt frowned.

"Don't you think he already did that by running away" Burt said.

"Don't you realize that is the reason he ran away" Mercedes snapped before getting up and going into the kitchen, leaving Burt behind to asses Mercedes words.

….

Kurt was able to pull himself together by the time Oliver came home to find him wrapped up in a blanket sipping some tea.

"So that was your dad" Cole says rustling through take out bags he brought back with him.

"Yeah" Kurt says, his voice sounding a little raspy, Cole doesn't seem to notice.

"Not what I expected. To be honest" Cole says handing Kurt a Chinese food container, sitting next to him on the couch to eat his. Kurt cracks a smile.

"I get that a lot".

"I'm not surprised your mom's not in the picture" Cole adds with a bite full of fried rice in his mouth. Kurt drops his container in his lap, some of it spilling over on his pants, but he didn't seem to care.

"Excuse me?" Kurt says, his voice laced with anger, Cole is oblivious.

"Well he came here alone so obviously your mom's not in the picture anymore. And judging from what I saw I don't blame her for leaving him". Kurt's eyes narrow.

"My mom died when I was eight" he says coolly. Cole looks up and winces slightly.

"How was I supposed to know that"?

"And just so your aware my dad is a better man then you'll ever be", Cole snorts.

"Is that why you left him behind then, he obviously meant so much to you". Kurt bats the food container on his lap so it falls to the floor, knocking all the food out so it's scattered.

"Why I left is none of your business, but I can assure you it had everything to do with how much I cared for my father". He get's up and goes to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water in hopes it will cool him down.

"I don't understand why you are so mad at me", Cole calls out from the living room. "I've been nothing but facilitating during all this, I let you use my apartment while I wandered the streets trying to buy some time". Kurt slams the refrigerator door loudly.

"Your apartment? What happened to our apartment"?

"I don't remember you paying for it" Cole snaps, he is getting really annoyed with Kurt's unusual behavior. Kurt smiles suddenly and grabs his coat off the rack.

"Where are you going?" Cole says plainly, he obviously isn't affected by Kurt's diva act.

"As you have reminded me, this isn't my apartment. So I'm going home", he slams his keys down on the nearby table.

"And where is home exactly?" he asks amused. Kurt takes out the cell phone that also belongs to Cole and places it next to the keys.

"Home is anywhere that I'm surrounded by people who love and believe in me" he turns around walks out the door and slams it behind him, feeling free and light, something he hadn't felt since his first night in his first grown-up apartment. He would go to his father, his family and friends, and he knew it was going to take a lot of work, to get back to how things were, but it would be worth it. But first, there was one stop he needed to make.

….

Everyone has a box. An Ex box to be more specific. The place where you hide mostly bad, some good memories of past loves, and take it out when your feeling nostalgic or depressed. Blaine found Oliver's box a couple of months after they moved in together, in the hallway closet when he was looking for a box of winter hats and scarves. Oliver's box didn't contain much, a tiny turtle stuffed animal won for him on his first date when he was 16, a Kappa Gamma t-shirt from the boy he lost his virginity to, whom then broke his heart for the first time. A couple of coffee splattered notebook pages handwritten with poems from a Poetry major he had a fling with his Senior Year when he freaked out about going to medical school, afraid he didn't live his life to the fullest. That was all the box contained, no photos, just objects that meant nothing to Blaine, but held some sort of sentimental value for Oliver.

Blaine had a box. A bigger box, that only contained items from one person. When he finally moved out of his and Kurt's apartment, he sent the majority of Kurt's things to Burt, but he selfishly kept a number of things that he couldn't bear to part with. He put them in a box and shoved them in his closet, pulling them out once and while, when he was drunk and lonely. When he moved in with Oliver, he was self-conscious about it, so he hid it at the bottom of a linen closet, behind an empty vacuum box, a place he knew Oliver would never look. He didn't pull that box out much since Oliver, he fought the urge to at first, and eventually the urge lessened and lessened. But today Blaine didn't fight the urge, he sat on the floor the box in front of him, as he pulled out item after item, letting himself remember things he tried to forget so many times.

Kurt's Dalton tie was rolled up on the top of the box, and Blaine let his fingers glide along the stitches. Kurt had only brought that with him as a joke, he would wear it once in a while to cheer Blaine up if he needed it. Kurt had been wearing that tie the first time they kissed, when they finally gave up on the premise they were actually going to practice that day, Blaine had pulled it out of Kurt's sweater in an attempt to be sexy, but ended up slightly choking Kurt, promptly sending the boys into a fit of giggles. There were two scarves and a sweater in the box too, Blaine hadn't had any specific memories with those items, but they had been some of the last items Kurt wore, and Blaine swore he could still smell Kurt on them.

Kurt's "Prom Queen" crown was next, slightly ripped, the gold now faded. Kurt had brought that along to New York to remind himself of how strong he could be, and displayed it proudly on their dresser. Blaine had moved it to the mantel about a week after Kurt left, and people would sigh sadly when they saw it there.

There was a zip-lock bag of post-it notes. They started that tradition their senior year together at McKinley. They would leave each other I love you notes, or you look really good today notes to help them get through their days of teasing, slushies, and Rachel's need to crush anyone that stood in her way. They continued the tradition when they moved in together, leaving good morning notes for the person to wake up last, or cute little phrases. When Blaine was moving, he found the bag tucked under a tray of silverware in the kitchen, unaware that Kurt had saved them all that time, and he cried a little reading them, remembering all the good time before the storm.

Blaine had kept the majority of their pictures, only sending a select few back to Burt, mostly family photos. There were photos of the Warblers, Blaine naïve and unaware of how important Kurt was going to be to him. Their Junior prom photo, Kurt wearing that stupid crown. Photos of New Directions, their win at Nationals senior year, and some of just them in the choir room. There was one graduation photo of Kurt and Blaine, Kurt wearing his bedazzled cap proudly, his cheeks flushed, his eyes shining, ready to venture out into the world. There was the picture Kurt had kept on his bedside, Blaine had hated it. Rachel had snapped it at one of their summer get togethers before college. Blaine and Kurt were sitting side by side, Kurt laughing at something Mercedes had said, Blaine starring at him, with the dumbest expression. Kurt always claimed that was the same face he made when he told Kurt he loved him for the first time, which Blaine groaned at.

The last item in the box was a framed photo, his favorite photo. He knew he should have given this one to Burt, but he couldn't bear to part with it. Kurt's mother holding Kurt as a one year old, laughing at the smiling boy reaching out to her. This picture had been one of Kurt's only connections to his mother and meant so much to him. Blaine wasn't sure what prompted him to keep such a personal picture of a woman he didn't know, but he knew he couldn't part with it.

Blaine looked down at the floor, the items of his past now scattered around him. Were these items supposed to still mean as much to him as they did now? Did Oliver pause and smell that stupid beer stained t-shirt to try and feel a little sorrow.

The doorbell rang and Blaine silently padded towards the door, not even bothering to look and see who it was, assuming it was Mercedes. He looks like he's seen a ghost when he opens it and reveals Kurt on the other side.

"Hi Blaine, can I come in"? Blaine see's Kurt is alone and silently nods ushering him inside. Kurt sits tentatively on the couch and looks up at Blaine, with an expression Blaine is unsure of.

"I left Cole, and I'm on my way to Rachel's" he announces, and Blaine smiles.

"That's great Kurt, I'm really proud of you. Do you need directions"? Kurt shakes his head and takes a deep breath.

"Cole told me about the reward out for me, and everyone's been telling me how upset you were, how hard you looked for me, and I just, can't believe it. We were so broken, I thought you would be happy I was gone".

"How could you-".

"Everyone's going to want an explanation for where I went when I get there, and I'm going to give them one-but-out of everyone I feel like you need it the most, like you deserve to hear it first. So that's why I'm here, I'll tell you everything, if you want to know". Blaine gulps and slowly sits down next to Kurt, turning to look him square in the eye.

"Yeah-I think-I think that's just what I need".


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

**This chapter focusses on Blaine and Kurt, but I'm sure no one will object to that. There will be one, maybe two but I'm hoping to get it all in one more chapter, and then an Epilogue. I hope you guys enjoy the confrontation you all have been waiting for and thanks for all the reviews!**

…**...**

_It had been a long day and Kurt just wanted to go home. He packed up his workstation in Textiles 101 as quickly as possible, with the prospect of a home-cooked meal, his boyfriend, and whole bunch of notes to study for his midterms coming up in a couple of weeks._

"_Kurt, a moment?", said his teacher, an extremely intimidating man who never seemed to like Kurt, although never saying that to his face, he could tell by the looks he gave him. Kurt sighed making his way to the front of the room, at least this teacher hadn't told him he wouldn't make it as a designer, that what just one of his other ones._

"_I wanted to talk about your progress in the class, or I should say lack there of", the teacher said motioning for Kurt to sit. _

"_I know I'm behind, being a fashion forward kid from Ohio does nothing for me here, I know, but I'm working really hard" Kurt said sitting down, using the same excuse he found himself using with almost every professor who seemed to be less than thrilled with him. _

"_Are you? It really doesn't seem it to me" the teacher countered, and Kurt sighed. _

"_I am, I want this. I already had to give up on my Broadway dream, I'm not giving up on this"._

"_Listen Kurt, I'm going to give it to you straight. I've taught a lot of boys like you, they know enough to get by, but they lack that spark and flair that will make them successful. You'll get a mediocre internship, and charm your boss with your perfect skin and flawless jaw line. You'll charm a lot of people with your looks; at least you have that going for you. If you use them you'll be slightly successful, if you don't, well I'm afraid you won't make it in this industry at all". Kurt couldn't believe what he was saying._

"_Are you telling me I have to sleep my way to the top to make it"? His professor chuckles._

"_Crudely put, but yes"._

"_I would never do that", Kurt insisted._

"_Well then I'd give up, I hear teaching is a fairly easy profession to get into"._

"_I can't-I would be letting so many people down, myself down"._

"_Well when you have a fashion degree and nowhere to use it, you'll be letting everyone down anyway. I know this is tough to hear, but I'm trying to help you, save you from a miserable future". Kurt got up from his chair grabbing his bag and jacket._

"_Thank you for your time", he said rushing out of the room. He walked all the way home instead of taking the subway back that night, hoping the chilly fall air would stop the tears he was holding back from falling. _

….

"Why did you never tell me any of this? The midterms, the other teacher I knew about, but this? Kurt, you could have gotten him fired for what he said to you" Blaine said.

"You, Rachel, even Santana were doing so great with school, and I was drowning. I wasn't the headstrong, determined kid I was in High School anymore and I was scared, and ashamed. And I know I had a bad attitude, but what made it worse was that no one seemed to care. I'm not blaming anyone but myself for why I left, but you all made it seem like I was just being a diva, no one seemed to care that I was unhappy. I felt like you all we were climbing this giant staircase and I couldn't even reach the first step. And you all would turn around waving at me, telling me to join you guys, but I couldn't get there, no matter how hard I tried". Kurt took a deep breath.

"So you left because you were jealous?" Blaine asked slowly, Kurt instantly shook his head.

"I'm not finished with my story".

…

_Kurt was the last student to hand in his textiles midterm. He was finished before the majority of his classmates, but he spent all the extra time going over answer after answer, making sure he didn't miss a thing. He needed to pass this with flying colors to boost his grades. _

_He walked up to his professor placing it on top of the pile of already collected exams. His professor looked up at Kurt, placing the book he had been reading on the desk. _

"_About time", he said getting up to stand next to Kurt picking up the pile and placing it in his briefcase. Kurt just smirked, turning to take a step out the door when his professor called him back. _

"_Have you given any thoughts to what we talked about?" he asked, and Kurt kept his face emotionless, while his insides were reeling. _

"_No"._

"_Shame, you are putting such a pretty face to waste" his professor said, his eyes lingering on Kurt's face in a way that made him feel extremely uncomfortable. _

"_What are you doing tonight?" his professor asked. _

"_Studying for my last midterm tomorrow" Kurt said dryly, his professor smirked._

"_Come to dinner with me" his professor said, and Kurt froze, his face paled, he was not expecting the man who seemed to dislike Kurt to ask him out on a date._

"_I have a boyfriend", his professor continued to smile. _

"_Ok. So you should come to my place then". _

"_I don't think so" Kurt said, trying to sound confident but mostly scared._

"_You're making a mistake", his professor said, but Kurt rushed out of the classroom before he could say anything. Kurt had never been in a situation like that in his life. He felt dirty and gross; he just wanted to take a shower and forget that ever happened. _

_Two weeks later_

_Kurt woke up well rested and extremely comfortable. He loved Fridays because his schedule magically worked out where he didn't have any classes. He usually spent his Fridays cleaning, catching up on Project Runway episodes and waiting for Blaine to get home. Things with them had been really tense lately, and he knew his bad attitude and moods were making it that way. He was going to surprise Blaine with a dinner tonight, just like they used to do, he may even convince Rachel to get her Big to buy her a bottle a wine that they could have, make things special. He padded into the kitchen and was surprised to find Blaine sitting only in his boxers eating cereal; he smiled when he saw Kurt. _

"_Morning sleepy head" he said in between mouthfuls of cereal. _

"_Why aren't you in class?" Kurt asked going to grab a glass of orange juice. _

"_My teacher's kid broke his arm or something so she cancelled class" Blaine said getting up to place his bowl in the sink. He leans across to plant a wet kiss on the side of Kurt's forehead. "I was hoping maybe we could go do something today, maybe explore a part of city we haven't yet like we used to before-before things got so busy" Blaine said his voice a little higher at the end of the sentence. _

"_Sounds great I'll get ready while you're in the shower" Kurt said. _

"_Cool. Oh and the calendar said your midterms were posted today, so make sure you check them" Blaine said before walking out of the room to shower. Kurt immediately went into the living room grabbing his laptop off the coffee table powering it on while he went and took a seat on the couch. Kurt had studied hard for all his exams, and spent every waking second perfecting his projects and he was confident he was going to do extremely well. Maybe him and Blaine could celebrate today, Blaine had gotten his scores back yesterday and he had mostly A's, one B. He logged onto the college site hastily clicking on the grades section, his heart was humming, he couldn't wait to see how many A's he got. He had to re-read his scores three times before it sunk in, that he in deed failed every single midterm. That had to be wrong, there was no way that was right. _

_Twenty Minutes Later_

_Blaine emerged from the bedroom dressed towel drying his curls. He was surprised to find Kurt, still in his pajamas sitting on the couch staring at his laptop. _

"_You're not dressed yet?" Blaine asked. _

"_I'm not really in the mood to go out" Kurt said quietly, Blaine let out a long breath, biting his tongue until his temper cooled._

"_Kurt we haven't gone out together in a while, I was really looking forward to it" Blaine said, on the verge of begging. _

"_I'm not in the mood" Kurt repeated, getting up to go into the bedroom. _

"_Where are you going?" Blaine asked, slightly angry now _

"_I need to get dressed, I have to stop by school"._

"_Since when do you go to school on a Friday?" Blaine asked obviously annoyed. Kurt spun around on his heel and faced Blaine. _

"_Since I failed all my finals, and I need to fix it". Blaine frowned running a hand through his hair. Kurt had worked so hard for these tests; he couldn't believe Kurt was still failing. _

"_Baby, I'm sorry I didn't realize. What is going to your professors going to do though?" Blaine asked. _

"_I didn't fail" Kurt said confidently, "There has to be an excuse or a reason"._

"_Kurt, I know you worked hard, but your grades haven't been the best, it's not that surprising that you didn't do as well as you planned" Blaine said. He noticed the way Kurt's face turned white, his eyed narrowed. _

"_Yeah, you're right. I'm at least going to ask for extra credit" his voice mono-toned as he sulked out of the bedroom and out of the apartment. _

_Kurt knew he had to go to his textile's professor. He didn't want to believe it, but there had to be a reason why he failed and he had a feeling he had something to do with it. He would beg him; he had to get him to change the grades back. _

_His professor was in his office, and he smiled when Kurt stepped in asking for a moment. He asked Kurt to shut the door and he did reluctantly sitting down in the chair across from his desk._

"_What can I help you with?" his professor asked. _

"_I know I didn't fail my midterm" Kurt said matter-of-factly, his professor looked amused. _

"_That's not what my files say" he counters._

"_I know I didn't fail, and I know I didn't fail my other classes, and I know you had something to do with it"._

"_You'll come to find that I hold a lot of weight in this institution, teachers really value my opinions". Kurt felt his heart fall to his stomach. _

"_You can't-my grades-my future-please" Kurt begged. _

"_Since I have a soft spot for you" he gets up and walks around the desk sitting on the other side, right in front of Kurt. "I'll reinstate our deal. Give me what you want, and I'll give you what you want". _

_Kurt looked at his professor. His dad was going to be so disappointed in his grades, they were paying so much money for Kurt to be there, he couldn't imagine telling his dad he was failing out._

_But then there was Blaine, his Blaine, who no matter what they were going through at the moment he loved unconditionally, and he could never imagine doing something like this to him. Kurt got up from his chair and walked to the door._

"_I didn't really study that hard anyway", the door slamming behind him. _

_He walked around the city till dark, and came home to an empty apartment. He stripped down and put on one of Blaine's dirty sweatshirts and pajamas and fell into a half sleep, dozing in and out of consciousness. He heard the door slam open at some point and opened his eyes to watch Blaine drunkenly stumble around the room throwing his clothes everywhere and slipping into bed, he saw Kurt's eyes open. _

"_I went out with some friends from class" he said and Kurt silently nodded. _

"_How did it go with your professors?" he asked. _

"_You were right, there was no point going to them, I'm just-I have to work harder I guess". _

…..

"Kurt, I honestly have nothing to say besides the fact that I was a stupid, stupid child then. I should have realized, I should have cared more, forced you to tell me-I'm so-".

"Blaine if you apologize one more time for something that isn't your fault I will slap you" Kurt says with a smile. "There is no way you would have known any of that. And well it sucked when you didn't believe in me, but I wasn't letting you in so I couldn't blame you. Things from there spiraled, I was angry, embarrassed and constantly thinking of the people I was letting down. I started thinking about running away, I thought either way I was going to disappoint everyone, and if I just up and left, you all would be angry with me, and let me go. I thought if I left I could maybe make a better life, and come back to you, and let you guys be proud of me again. But then I heard Jeff ask you over Skype if you were still thinking about breaking up with me, and you said you didn't know because you were afraid of how worse I would get. And that's when I made my decision, and I left" Kurt said subconsciously rubbing his thighs.

"Why London?" Blaine asked his voice quiet.

"Because I always wanted to go, and I thought it would distract me from the hardest thing I ever did" Blaine hummed in understanding.

"The reason-that I was thinking about breaking up with you" Blaine started and Kurt shook his head as if to say Blaine didn't have to explain, but he continued anyway. "I saw how down and depressed you were and I couldn't do anything to help you and that was so frustrating for me, I constantly felt like I was bringing you down. And then my friends were telling me I was better off without you, and I probably would have broken up with you, but I still would have wanted to be a part of your life, there was no way I could survive without you, and then you left".

"Why did you quit music?" Kurt asked, looking Blaine directly in the eye.

"I didn't think I deserved to be happy. I blamed myself, thought I pushed you away, made you miserable, so I punished myself, for many years. Oliver, he was the first person to tell me that I deserved to be happy again", Blaine added.

"I'm glad you found him" Kurt said quietly.

"I just want you to know, that I always thought of you. I would have these amazing dreams of us in our apartment, and wake up and feel so disappointed that you weren't next to me, I don't know why I'm telling you this but-mmph", Kurt was instantly cut off by Blaine's lips who had come charging from the other side of the couch. He placed his hands on either side of Kurt's face, and kissed him with all the desperation, wondering and want coiling in his lower stomach. Kurt kissed back tentatively at first but eventually gave into to all the feelings he had been hiding away as well. It was when Blaine made a pleasant sound in the back of throat while he attempted to push Kurt backwards when Kurt's eyes opened wide. He pushed Blaine off again, their lips disconnecting with a snap and Kurt jumped off the couch, hovering by the wall.

"We shouldn't have done that" Kurt said panting. Blaine's face was flushed, his eyes blown with lust.

"I disagree, that was- I haven't felt like that in a long, long time" he said, panting as well.

"No Blaine" Kurt said slowly. Blaine got up from the couch and grabbed Kurt's hands.

"I know, this is messy, with Oliver, and you just being back but you can't tell me that wasn't one of the best kisses you ever had".

"Blaine I'm not staying in New York" Kurt said softly. Blaine dropped Kurt's hands taking a step back, a sad look on his face.

"I'm going to go back to Ohio with my dad and Carole, if they'll have me. Maybe work in the shop. I need to spend some time with my dad, seeing him made me realize how much I was missing out on. I'm an emotional basket case Blaine, I have no clue what my future holds for me and you said it yourself, Oliver makes you happy. You need to stay with him".

"He doesn't make me happy the way you do" Blaine said, his eyes turning red. Kurt ran a hand down Blaine's cheek and stepped away walking towards the door.

"Can you promise me something?" Kurt asks, and Blaine looks at him confused.

"You have to pick the music up again. Even if it's just a hobby. One of us has to get their dream" and then Kurt was gone.

Blaine stood where he was for who knows how long, processing everything that had just happened. He let the hot, angry tears fall down his face as he marched to his closet, pulling out his keyboard he had shoved in there, not having the heart to sell it. He set it up on the coffee table and sat down in front of it. He ran his fingers down the keys with no pressure and took a deep breath. He pressed down on a key and it rang throughout the apartment, like it was saying hello to an old friend. Blaine smiled.


	11. Chapter 11

Sorry this took so long, but here's the last chapter! I'm hoping to bang out the epilogue and get this finished up by the end of the weekend!

Chapter 11

Kurt had been so distracted by his thoughts of Blaine that he didn't stop and consider how awkward being with everyone was going to be. Not that he expected everyone to be crammed in Rachel and Finn's living room when he arrived. But they were, Santana and Britney sitting on the floor in the corner at Puck's feet. Finn was sandwiched between his mother and Burt, and Rachel and Mercedes were standing in the corner. They were all staring at him, hadn't stopped since Rachel let him in. He was just standing there waiting for someone, anyone to say anything because Kurt was so overwhelmed by the amount of eyes watching him he couldn't form any words.

Carole was the first to get up, cooing about how good it was to see him wrapping her arms around him tightly, and it felt nice, familiar and her scent relaxed him slightly. Finn was standing behind her when she finally let go, and wrapped Kurt up in one of his signature bro hugs, and this time Kurt reciprocated, hugging back the boy, or he should say man that looked over his father while he was missing.

"Are you here for a visit or.." Burst asked trailing off, He never got up from his spot on the couch, just watched his son with a curious expression. Kurt took a shaky breath.

"Staying, uh, I mean, yeah, I, I broke up with Cole" Kurt said. Burt's face stayed the same, emotionless but his friends surrounding him all broke out in smiles, Britney nudged Santana in the ribs and she broke out into a silent laugh.

"I am so proud of you" Rachel said from the corner taking steps towards him. "You are more than welcome to stay in our guest room until you get your feet on the ground" she added, Finn nodding enthusiastically besides her. Kurt must have flinched or made some sort of noticeable expression because Burt cleared his throat and asked for some family time. Mercedes left with Britney, Santana and Puck but not before making breakfast plans for the following day before Mercedes and Puck had to fly home. Once everyone was gone Rachel excused herself to the kitchen reluctantly, and Kurt was now sitting across from his stepbrother, stepmother and father.

"You don't want to stay in the city" Burt said, it wasn't a question. Kurt nodded his head.

"Carole and me discussed it, and we think you should come home. We would like you to come home" Burt adds and Kurt feels a wave of relief wash through him.

"That's what I was going to ask. I know you guys are probably used to having an empty nest but I was thinking home was where I needed to be, and I could help out around the shop, or whatever you need me to do I'm flexible-"

"We can figure out the details when we get home son", and Kurt can't help but get a little teary eye when his dad calls it home, because home was something he'd never thought he'd get to see again.

…

Blaine had barely stopped playing the past three days. He took breaks to eat, nap and pick up sheet music from a nearby music store but otherwise his fingers were attached to the keys, filling his empty apartment with music.

Oliver wasn't sure what he was expecting to find when he came home, but he was certain Blaine looking unwashed hunching over a keyboard wasn't it. He watched his boyfriend playing from what appears to be memory, almost manic like. He had never seen Blaine so wrapped up, so passionate about something before.

"This is new," Oliver says interrupting both Blaine and his train of thoughts. Blaine abruptly stops playing, the apartment now eerily quiet.

"Oh, hey, uh how long have you been here?" Blaine asks turning around to face Oliver. His face scruffy, dark circles under his eyes.

"Long enough. So what's with the piano? And the lack of sleep and showering?" Oliver asks with a soft chuckle.

"I was just in the mood, and I can't seem to bring myself to stop" Blaine says rubbing his eyes. "Are you just here to get more clothes or?" Blaine trails off. Oliver takes a deep breath taking a step closer to Blaine sitting down on the coffee table so he's directly in front of him.

"I was hoping maybe for good" he says softly. "Look Blaine, I-I think we both made some mistakes these past couple of weeks. I've done a lot of thinking, and the truth is, at the end of all this silliness I don't want to lose you. And if that means I have to accept Kurt being a part of your life again then I'll try to figure out a way to do that".

"Kurt's gone" Blaine says in a low voice.

"Gone? As in he ran away again"?

"No, he went home, to Ohio". Oliver watches Blaine's expression, but he remains emotionless.

"Well that's what you all wanted isn't it? Him and his family reunited again"?

"Yeah", Blaine clears his throat and his voice becomes more cheerful. "That's exactly what I wanted. So are you", he reaches out and grabs Oliver's hand and squeezes it.

The first two weeks were good. Oliver took some time off from the hospital, and they worked on getting things back to way they were. Blaine sang him silly love songs, they went on walks through Central Park, they spent hours under the covers on rainy days getting reacquainted. Things were slightly back to normal besides the constant stream of Blaine's keyboard wafting through the apartment. It was nice, Oliver thought. He was happy Blaine had some sort of hobby, that Blaine seemed to be happier considering all that had happened. But for what ever reason, the happy sounds that should make Oliver fall even more with his much goofier boyfriend, irked him a little.

One day Blaine was home from work after Oliver, which was highly unusual. He had the biggest smile on his face and he kissed Oliver on the cheek sloppily.

"I went to this new café to get some coffee, and they have open mic nights every Saturday night, and guess who is signed up for this one?" Blaine said, his face so animated it was slightly distracting.

"I am going to go out on a limb here and say you", Oliver said surveying the fridge to decide what to make for dinner.

"You're no fun" Blaine said playfully, "But yes, and it's perfect because that's your night off".

"So it is" Oliver said.

Oliver went of course, because his boyfriend was happy, which should have made him happy. But three Saturdays in a row, and Oliver was annoyed. He should have been happy, his boyfriend was another person on that makeshift stage, he smiled, and laughed, and, he was starting to draw in a weekly crowd of supporters. But it really bothered Oliver, he still had no clue why, but this whole music thing, Oliver wasn't a fan. He stopped going with Blaine, and he knew it hurt Blaine deeply, but he just couldn't stand to go to one more, so he made up an excuse about getting migraines every time he went, and he thought his problem would be solved.

Until Blaine came back one Saturday night, over the moon.

"They want to pay me to play on Thursday and Friday nights, can you believe it, they want to pay me" he announced excitedly rushing to get ready for bed so he could join Oliver.

"What about your real job?" Oliver asked.

"This is at night, it won't be a big deal" Blaine said, but it was a big deal, a huge deal, it was making Oliver's blood boil, so he just turned around and went to sleep, leaving Blaine slightly hurt and confused.

It all came out a month later, it turned out Blaine's second job was going to be a little more then a night job. He had to plan out two new set lists twice a week, and Blaine spent the majority of his free time rehearsing in the apartment. Oliver had been on the phone with his newly engaged sister when he just couldn't take it anymore, something inside him just snapped.

"WILL YOU CUT THAT OUT" he screamed from the bedroom, and when the apartment went silent, he swiftly hung up the phone. Blaine appeared in the doorway, looking sad and sorry.

"I didn't realize that it bothered you so much", Blaine said honestly.

"It's just constant" Oliver said dismissively.

"Maybe I can use the money I've been saving to invest in some rehearsal space, you're right it's not fair for you, I know it bothers your head" Blaine said.

"Don't worry about it, sorry I yelled" Oliver said. Blaine stayed in the doorway, watching Oliver, he obviously wanted to say something, to talk about it, but Oliver, he just couldn't now.

"I'm going to make dinner," he said, walking around Blaine and into he kitchen.

He enjoyed the quiet while he cooked, it was the first time in a while that he could actually hear himself think. He loved Blaine, he truly and really did. But this new, energetic, silly, musically passionate Blaine wasn't his Blaine. Oliver frowned, turning off the burner the boiling pasta was currently on and poured two glasses of wine. He knew what he had to talk to Blaine about, as he sat down on the couch next to him silently, and as he passed Blaine a glass, he had a feeling Blaine knew too.

…..

Kurt couldn't believe he had been home for three months. It had been strange at first, living in his old, untouched bedroom, waking up and wandering into the kitchen to find Carole or Burt sitting enjoying a cup of coffee. It took a lot of adjustment, and redecorating his old bedroom, but eventually he adjusted. He even was working at an old book store that had been around when he was a kid, and he was starting to enjoy himself.

He was currently in Tina Cohen-Chang's living room, with a five year old peering up at him curiously. Tina smiled at him from her chair, looking exactly like she did in high school, minus the Goth clothing and colored hair streaks.

"I was wondering when I'd get to see you" she starts, taking a sip of her tea.

"Of course everyone knows you've been home. And I know you've seen Quinn, and Puck a couple of times, I was going to call you but Mike made me wait for you to come here. And here you sit".

"I'm sorry it's taken so long, the only reason I've seen is Quinn is because she came into the bookstore and forced me into having lunch, to be honest, it's still a little weird to see everyone, I'm still adjusting". Tina nods.

"I get it, and we don't-we can just pretend this is normal if you'd like". Kurt remembers what he always loved about Tina, her easy going calming ways, he had absolutely taken them for granted in High School, but he wasn't about to do that anymore.

"No, well, my therapist would be disappointed in me if I did that, but thanks".

"Therapist?" Tina questions.

"My dad's idea, to work out some of my issues, to talk about the reasons I left and such, I actually slightly enjoy it".

"Good, I'm glad that's working out for you, I'm glad you're home" Kurt smiles in response.

"I've missed you. All of you" Kurt admits looking over at Tina and Mike's framed wedding picture. "I'm especially sorry I missed that" he says.

"The whole time I kept imagining what you would have thought of everything" Tina admits with a little giggle.

"I'm sure it was stunning".

"How long are you planning on being here?" Tina asks and Kurt hesitates.

"A while I think, I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with my life yet, plus, I'm enjoying spending time with my dad, and hopefully you and this little one" he smiles down at the younger girl.

"It'll be nice to have you around" Tina says. "But when you're ready Kurt, don't be afraid to take a leap. You still have so much time to achieve your dreams".

"Thanks Tina".

They talked about old memories, Tina and Mike's life now, when Tina unknowing, shifted the conversation to Blaine.

"He's single now. I don't know if you got to meet Oliver, but according to Facebook they broke up a couple of months ago" she smiles, obviously enjoying a gossip session not involving Elmo or whatever the kids were watching these days.

"I did meet Oliver, that's a shame" Kurt says slowly, although his mind is reeling.

"I don't know why, I keep telling Mike to call and ask, but of course he won't do that", Kurt chuckles softly.

"I know you saw him, Mercedes told me everything" she says looking a little guilty.

"I did see Blaine, he was the original one to find me, with Finn".

"Mhmm. I heard from Mercedes that you two have a lot of unresolved feelings for each other". Kurt blushes.

"I'm not entirely sure what she means by that" Kurt says.

"If there's one thing I know Kurt, it's that you can't let a good thing go".

"Even if I wanted to, I'm not in good enough shape to be involved with Bl- with anyone". Tina just smiles and changes the subject, but Kurt can't help the small voice in the back of his mind, "Maybe one day though".


End file.
